It's been days since a New Jersey councilwoman was found shot inside her SUV, and with no clear motive or suspect, police are pleading with local residents to turn over any potential evidence.
The Sayreville Police Department is asking the tenants of the Harbor Club and La Mer developments to come forward with any video footage they may have from the night of Feb. 1, when Eunice Dwumfour was killed. Specifically, they're looking for video taken between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The video request also includes anyone driving in the area with a dashboard camera who traveled along Ernston Road, Gondek Drive or Point of Woods Drive during that window.
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Surveillance video exclusively obtained by NBC New York shows what may have been the shooter running in the back of a housing development, past a dumpster. Police are looking into whether the man seen on the video was the shooter.
Dwumfour, a Republican who won an upset victory for her council seat in Sayreville in 2021, was found with multiple bullet wounds by officers responding to a 911 call around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday about shots fired on Samuel Circle and Sayreville. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Law enforcement sources say 14 shots were fired, and some neighbors say they saw security camera footage showing Dwumfour talking to a man standing outside her vehicle just prior to the shooting.
The gunman escaped between two buildings and into the woods, according to police. There was no immediate speculation on his identity or whether multiple people may have been involved in Dwumfour's killing. (Obtenga los detalles en español aquí.)
The FBI's New Jersey office issued a statement Friday saying it was aware of the investigation into the death of a 30-year-old council member found shot in her SUV and prepared to assist in the case as needed. The agency also suggested that the range of the case could go beyond Middlesex County, and offered their assistance to both Sayreville Police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, if necessary.
Detectives have previously gone through a dumpster steps from the shooting and canvassed the area downhill, where the SUV rolled afterward and crashed into parked cars. They've used bloodhounds as they have combed over the area multiple times during their investigation.
Gov. Phil Murphy called Dwumfour's death a "shocking development," saying state police would assist local and county officials with their investigation. He said he couldn't recall the last time a gunman killed an elected official in the state. One week after her death, flags will be flown at half-staff by order of the governor.
A rising star for local Republicans and an IT professional by trade, Dwumfour recently finished her first term on the council. Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick praised her for her faith.
"Beyond her dedication to our community, I can share that she was a woman of deep faith and worked hard to integrate her strong Christian beliefs into her daily life as a person and a community leader," Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick said.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Dwumfour was also the director of churches for an international ministry, Champions Royal Assembly. Dwumfour, whose parents were from Ghana, was a pastor at an African Christian church in Newark.
Dwumfour got married last summer — to a man named Eze Kings, a congregant of the church — and was the mother of an 11-year-old girl. Those who spoke to NBC New York said they knew very little about her husband, other than he has spent most of his time in his homeland of Nigeria since the wedding, helping build a church there.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Kings wrote he would continue to celebrate her as he promised, ending, "I missed you my love.""She seemed to have it all, she was happy. Happy with her new husband it seems, very happy her daughter and she had the life, she was living the life — the American dream," said Sayreville GOP Chairwoman Karen Bailey Bebert.
Sayreville is about 35 miles southwest of New York City and about 65 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
