A 28-year-old Virginia man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the brutal and high-profile shooting of Sayreville, New Jersey, councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, officials announced on Tuesday.
The suspect Rashid Ali Bynum was taken into custody by state and federal authorities Tuesday morning in Chesapeake City, Va. Bynum lives in Portsmouth, Va. In addition to the murder charge, Bynum is also charged with gun offenses. He will be extradited from Virginia to New Jersey. At a Tuesday afternoon press briefing, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced the arrest. “This was a very complex case with painstaking police work every single moment until today, and it will continue after today,” Ciccone said.
Preliminary investigations indicate the victim and the suspect may have known each other through a mutual affiliation with the Champions Royal Assembly Church in Newark. However, the prosecutor did not disclose a motive for the high profile murder that garnered national attention for months.
Ciccone said video surveillance footage, eyewitness accounts, cell phone records, a partial description of the suspect’s vehicle, and an intense investigation by local, state, and federal agents led to the arrest of Bynum. “The murder has shaken the community and no arrest will bring back the councilwoman, ” she said.
Dwumfour, 30, was gunned down in a hail of bullets as she sat in her car in front of her home on February 2. At the time, she was recently married and had a 12-year-old daughter. She had been a member of the Sayreville City Council since 2021 and was an outspoken critic of the local police department.
This is a developing story. Stay with NJUrban News for updates….