New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour —who was gunned down near her Sayreville home Wednesday — was remembered by family members and colleagues as an achieved newly married single mom who strived to assist others.
Dwumfour, 30, was pronounced lifeless Wednesday evening after being shot a number of instances whereas driving her white Nissan close to the Camelot at La Mer house complicated.
Her automotive finally got here to a cease when it crashed into two parked automobiles, together with one witness’ Lexus.
“It took a second earlier than I noticed there was a lifeless physique behind the wheel,” the witness advised The Publish Thursday.
“There was one bullet gap within the passenger door and a bunch of bullet holes within the driver door. Another neighbors mentioned they noticed somebody working away with a masks on.”
Locals consider the gunman could have fled through the Backyard State Parkway. Round 20 Sayreville officers had been seen combing the facet of the GSP exit to the Jon Bon Jovi Service Space on Thursday afternoon.
Though officers haven’t named any suspects, police on the scene later advised The Publish Dwumfour was caught on video chatting with the shooter simply moments earlier than her demise.
A single mother – and new bride
No less than two dozen mourners had gathered at Dwumfour’s mother and father’ Newark house on Thursday. Agonized screams might be heard echoing from the partitions as family members grappled with the sudden loss.
Kinfolk advised The Publish the Republican councilwoman was the oldest of 5 youngsters in a Ghanaian household, and leaves behind her personal 11-year-old daughter.
One cousin, Rita Okay., mentioned that Dwumfour was married in Africa in November. Her husband, Eze Kings, is a pastor in Nigeria.
“It’s exhausting to speak about it. It’s so exhausting. All I can inform you is [Eunice was] a humble girl. She’s very down-to-earth, very collected, laid again,” Rita mentioned.
Whereas Dwumfour’s mom, Mary, was too upset to talk, her father, Prince, mentioned the lack of his daughter was a “large blow.”
Her ‘dream’ to assist others
Initially from Newark, Dwumfour was elected to her first council time period within the Borough of Sayreville in Nov. 2021.
A couple of weeks earlier than the victory, she advised TAPintoRaritan Bay that she was “‘proud’” to have graduated from Newark’s public faculties earlier than incomes a Ladies’s Research diploma from William Paterson College in 2017.
On the time of her election, she had reportedly lived within the Middlesex County space for over 5 years.
“She moved [away] from Newark for a greater life for her daughter,” cousin Kendra advised The Publish of Dwumfour’s choice to go away town she was raised in.
A couple of months after being elected to the council, Dwumfour was given an honorable point out on InsiderNJ’s 2022 African American Power List.
“When [Eunice] was younger, I feel her dream was to be a councilwoman to assist lots of people,” aunt Beatrice Saahene defined.
“That’s what her dream was. She didn’t do it for the ability. She did it for serving to individuals. She was born right here, so she was a citizen right here. She needed to present again to the nation.”
A devoted function mannequin
Dwumfour’s youthful sister, Priscilla, mentioned her late sister’s need to assist the neighborhood stemmed from her Christian religion.
“She beloved God. Each side of her life was God,” she remembered, noting that Dwumfour beforehand served as a volunteer EMT and gave CPR lessons.
“She all the time needed to assist the neighborhood, irrespective of the place she was. Even when she got here again right here to go to us, she would cease by and have conversations with individuals, invite them to her church – ‘Come, we’ll feed you, don’t fear. For those who want a journey, name me.’ She was all the time like that.”
Dwumfour additionally discovered methods to include her religion into her skilled life.
“She was a pastor,” Prince Dwumfour mentioned of his daughter.
On the time of her demise, Eunice Dwumfour was additionally listed on LinkedIn as a enterprise analyst and “scrum grasp” for Hearth Congress Fellowship, Inc., and as Director of Church buildings for Champions Royal Meeting North America.
Champions Royal Meeting is a ministry run by Nigerian pastor and televangelist Joshua Iginla. Dwumfour ceaselessly posted about Iginla and the ministry on social media.
In a Dec. 2022 post celebrating her wedding ceremony, she thanked the preacher and his spouse as her “non secular mother and father.”
Trying again on her sister’s legacy, Priscilla lamented that she now not had such a powerful, feminine function mannequin in her life.
“It’s my solely different sister. I didn’t have another sisters to look as much as. I solely have my brothers now,” she mentioned.
Previous authorized hassle
Regardless of Dwumfour’s apparently joyful private life, she was additionally no stranger to public controversy.
Lower than a 12 months into her first time period on Sayreville’s council, she was one in every of two Republicans who moved a resolution for a local investigation into disgraced former Democratic councilman Thomas Pollando’s function in a strip membership bribery scheme.
A couple of years earlier, Dwumfour was additionally embroiled in her personal authorized hassle stemming from a 2017 automotive accident.
In response to a lawsuit filed in Dec. 2019, plaintiff Frank Fernandez-Tavare alleged that Eunice Dwumfour was the proprietor and doable driver of a automotive that was pushed “negligently and recklessly” into his personal automobile in Hillside on Dec. 21, 2017.
Within the go well with, Fernandez-Tevara claimed to have suffered “critical, grievous, everlasting and disabling accidents” within the crash.
Motions within the case continued for nearly two years earlier than it was finally dismissed in Aug. 2021.
Fernandez-Tavare couldn’t be instantly reached for a remark.
Unclear motive
Because the investigation into Dwumfour’s demise continues, family members and colleagues are nonetheless puzzling over the motive behind the surprising tragedy.
“[Eunice] beloved God dearly, so I don’t know why the satan got here and took her life identical to that,” Saahene mentioned.
“Whoever did that, I do know he can pay for it … Her spirit will hunt them down.”
“We don’t know what occurred,” Prince Dwumfour mentioned.
“Now, [Eunice is] no extra. My prayer is could God give her a greater place to relaxation. Sooner or later, we’ll meet her once more.”
Arthur Rittenhouse, 78, former chair of the Sayreville GOP and one-term councilman, advised The Publish he was shocked by the killing.
“[Eunice] was very effectively favored by anyone who spoke to her or had any dealings together with her, so this was actually a surprising occasion,” he mentioned.
Rittenhouse defined that he first met Dwumfour 5 years in the past by means of native politics, and that the 2 shared a particular bond as a result of they each graduated from William Paterson.
He additionally admitted that politicians typically have disagreements, however “nothing that will result in this.”
“She had a really, very nice persona. And she or he was a lady of her religion, and he or she all the time expressed that to whomever she was chatting with,” he mentioned.
Asiya LaPierre, Dwumfour’s next-door neighbor in Sayreville, was equally appalled by the crime.
“I’m in shock! I couldn’t consider this occurred to her. She was such a sort individual. Such a candy girl,” she mentioned.
As of Thursday afternoon, the police had not responded to The Publish’s request for a touch upon the case.
