Prosecutor: Virginia man charged for slaying of Sayreville council member
The suspect was identified as 28-year-old Rashid Ali Bynum, of Portsmouth, Virginia.
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A Virginia man was charged Tuesday in connection to the killing of Republican Sayreville Council Member Eunice Dwumfour, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office says.
Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said 28-year-old Rashid Ali Bynum, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested without incident on first-degree murder and two second-degree handgun charges.
Ciccone refused to address a possible motive in Dwumfour's death and says that the investigation is still underway. She said Bynum was linked to a church that Dwumfour belonged to and appeared as a contact in her phone under an acronym that investigators linked to the church.
Authorities tracked Bynum's cellphone to the area where Dwumfour was killed on Feb. 1 and said a witness reported seeing someone who fits Bynum's description in a vehicle that is connected to him, according to Ciccone.
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Tuesday's announcement came nearly four months after Dwumfour was found gunned down in her white SUV outside the townhome community where she lived.
Dwumfour was elected to her first three-year term in 2021, when she ousted a Democratic incumbent. Colleagues recalled her as a soft-spoken devout Christian who could maintain her composure in contentious situations.
Authorities announced the charges alongside Dwumfour's family and state Attorney General Matt Platkin, who addressed her relatives.
“There are no words that can be said to you that can make you whole. I know this,” Platkin said. “I know too often when we’re talking about victims of gun violence — senseless acts of gun violence — we feel the pain that you all feel today.”
Bynum was arrested in Chesapeake City, Virginia, and is awaiting extradition to New Jersey.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.
