Neighbors in a Sayreville community say they are shocked to find out a town council member was shot and killed outside of her home Wednesday evening.

Council Member Eunice Dwumfour was killed outside of the Camelot at La Mer apartment complex where she lived, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Authorities say that Dwumfour, 30, was shot multiple times while sitting inside her SUV.

Dwumfour lived in a third-floor apartment on Check Avenue within the complex. Neighbors tell News 12 New Jersey that it was just before 7:30 p.m. when they heard eight gunshots

“When I heard that, I knew that was not fireworks,” says neighbor Marybeth Hughes.

Neighbors say that they saw a man running away from Dwumfour’s SUV. They say that he took off between some homes and jumped over a wall in the back of the complex.

Dwumfour’s SUV would then roll down a hill away from her home and crash into a parked Mercedes.

“I saw the car down here crashed into the parked cars and there was someone slumped over,” says neighbor Ray Pizzano.

Neighbors say that the entire situation is difficult to comprehend.

“My heart is still thumping from it. It’s a nightmare, really,” says Hughes. “I remember seeing her. She was a very beautiful woman. She was well-dressed, always smiling. It’s affecting me now because I just saw her, and she was alive and she was happy.”

Dwumfour was originally from Newark and went to William Paterson University. She has a young daughter and was recently married.

The first-term Republican, who had been in office for just over a year, was remembered as genteel, kind and with an infectious smile that had an immediate impact on virtually everyone.

The chair of Sayreville's Republican organization recruited Dwumfour to flip a seat from Democratic control in 2021. Dwumfour was known as a political star in the making.

Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick issued a statement that read in part, “Beyond her dedication to our community, I can share that [Eunice] was a woman of deep faith…I can’t adequately express my feeling of sorrow at the loss of a friend.”

Gov. Phil Murphy also expressed his condolences.

“Sayreville is a proud, tight-knit and safe community and I know that it will come together, as it always has, in common purpose,” Murphy wrote on Twitter.

Sayreville Republican chairwoman Karen Bailey Bebert tells News 12 that she hopes to have a candlelight vigil on Monday to honor Dwunfour and to bring the community together.

Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is urged to call the Sayreville Police Department at 732-727-4444 or the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3477.