New Jersey councilwoman shot dead outside home
Sayreville, New Jersey, Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed on Feb. 1 in her car at the parking lot of the Camelot at La Mer apartment complex. (New Brunswick Today / Local News X / TMX)
Almost two months after a Republican New Jersey councilwoman was gunned down outside her home, her family is appealing for help as they await news of leads in the case.
Police found Sayreville Borough Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, a 30-year-old mother and former EMT, with gunshot wounds in a white Nissan outside her townhouse on Feb. 1 around 7:22 p.m.
Surveillance cameras picked up a shadowy figure running near the scene, and eyewitnesses told dispatchers they saw a man firing into her car before taking off on foot.
But no one has been caught, and her family is begging for justice.
Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was shot and killed on Feb. 1, 2023; background photo shows police investigating the scene. (Sayreville GOP | Stephanie Pagones / Fox News Digital)
“I need justice for my daughter,” her mother, Mary Dwumfour, told reporters at a news briefing Wednesday, Gothamist reported. “Please, God, help me.”
Her family has only been contacted twice by police since the slaying, according to the outlet.
Eunice Dwumfour’s husband, Peter Akwue, who is believed to have been in Nigeria at the time of the shooting, declined to comment Thursday, telling Fox News Digital that he would speak with his attorney first. Both Dwumfour and Akwue were pastors in the same church, where they initially met.
Her borough council colleague, Christian Onuoha, told Fox News Digital that he had little new information Thursday. Last month, he said that the lack of an arrest has been “discomforting.”
Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was shot and killed on Feb. 1, 2023. (Sayreville GOP)
“When we see videos of people running from that complex, you begin to wonder who really gains from this?” he said.
LISTEN: 911 emergency calls from the murder of New Jersey Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour
NEW JERSEY COUNCILWOMAN EUNICE DWUMFOUR SHOT DEAD OUTSIDE HOME IN ‘DESPICABLE CRIMINAL ACT’
“A colleague was shot in the complex she lived in, in the borough I represent,” he said. “When something like that happens, you want to see law enforcement on top of it.”
Neighbors told Fox News Digital that they heard between six and nine gunshots – and then the sound of the slain woman’s vehicle slamming into a row of parked cars.
One 911 caller delivered a shocking eyewitness account from the Camelot at La Mer complex.
This photo obtained by Fox News Digital shows the aftermath of the shooting involving New Jersey Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
“I heard gunshots. I looked out my window,” a man can be heard telling the dispatcher around 7:23 p.m. on Feb. 1. “I saw a man shooting into the driver’s side of a white vehicle three times, and then he ran away.”
He tells the dispatcher that the suspect left on foot.
“He ran into one of the hallways,” he continues. “And the white car drove up and crashed. The person in that driver’s side is probably not alive.”
The Middlesex County Prosecutors’ Office said Dwumfour suffered “multiple gunshot wounds” and was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation is ongoing.
“The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office will continue to seek justice for Ms. Dwumfour in a responsible manner that balances the needs of the grieving family and to protect the integrity of our investigation,” a county spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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Dwumfour had a 12-year-old daughter and stepchildren. She was previously a pastor, an EMT, spent time working in a medical office, worked for church-based nonprofits and had served on the council’s Human Relations Commission – focused on human rights and building peace, Onuoha said.
Sayreville police are asking for anyone with surveillance cameras in the vicinity of the Harbor Club and La Mer developments to share video from between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the night of the crime. They are also seeking dashcam video from drivers who may have been on Ernston Road, Gondek Drive or Point of Woods Drive around that time.
