The FBI and Virginia Chesapeake City Police Department arrested a suspect reportedly involved in the shooting death of Republican Sayreville Council Member Eunice Dwumfour, Middle County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced at a press conference.
Rasheed Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was taken into custody in Chesapeake “without incident” and charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose.
Authorities will escort Bynum to New Jersey, where he will be held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility “pending a pre-trial detention hearing in Superior Cout of New Jersey.”
“The murder has shaken the community, and no arrest will bring back the late Councilwoman,” Ciccone said at the press conference. “However, I do trust that justice will be found through the criminal justice process.”
Per a Sis2Sis report, while in her vehicle, Dwumfour was shot multiple times on Feb. 1 outside her townhouse’s complex in Sayreville, New Jersey. Neighbors called the police after 7 p.m. to notify them that a gunman opened fire.
Upon arriving at the horrific scene, authorities pronounced her dead.
According to Ciccone, investigators discovered Bynum fleeing the scene after checking out a nearby surveillance video. Police also managed to capture Bynum due to several witnesses’ descriptions of the suspect.
One witness described the suspect as a “thin, Black male” 5-foot-10-inch to 6-foot height, with ear-length braids or dreds.
Another witness noticed a suspicious white Hyundai parked in the surrounding area minutes before the shooting.
Police accessed Bynum’s phone’s GPS data, which traced him traveling from Virginia to New Jersey, only for him to travel back to Virginia.
Ciccone stated Bynum was a contact in the councilwoman’s phone under the acronym FCF (Fire Congress Fellowship), a church Dwumfour was affiliated with that was associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, Dwumfour’s church.
“Additional records reveal that on the day of the murder, Bynum searched the internet for information on Champion Royal Assembly Church as well as the area in Sayreville, New Jersey, and within days prior to the murder, what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun.”
The Prosecutor confirmed that all evidence led to Bynum. The investigation is ongoing.
