Man arrested in slaying of New Jersey councilwoman apparently knew victim from church
Eunice Dwumfour, a councilwoman from New Jersey, was shot to death in February outside her home by a Virginia man.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced at a news conference on Tuesday that Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, was taken into custody on charges including first-degree murder. Bynum appears to have known Dwumfour from the church, and he was arrested on Tuesday morning.On Feb. 1, Dwumfour, a 30-year-old mom and church leader, was shot multiple times while she was in her SUV outside her townhouse.
According to Ciccone, Bynum was a contact in Dwomfour’s phone under the acronym “FCF,” which authorities believe stands for “Fire Congress Fellowship,” a church that the congresswoman was previously affiliated with, “which was also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim’s church at the time of her death.”
On the day of the shooting, Bynum allegedly searched online for information on the Champion Royal Assembly church and the Sayreville area, according to Ciccone.
In the days before the murder, Bynum allegedly searched online for what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun, she said. Bynum’s phone traveled from Virginia to New Jersey at the time of the murder, and Bynum’s physical description matched a witness description of the suspect at the scene, Ciccone said.
Officials did not discuss a possible motive and did not take questions from reporters.”There are no words that can be said to you to make you whole,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said to Dwumfour’s family, who attended the press conference. “I did not know Eunice. I wish I had. But I know that she was a public servant.”
“I hope that today is the beginning of a healing process, and also the beginning of a sense of justice,” he added.
