By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Present and former residents from various walks in life here have been remembering and mourning the loss of Eunice K. Dwumfour.
Many may so far only know Dwumfour, 30, as the Sayreville councilwoman who was fatally shot in her car just yards away from her luxury rental apartment at 7:17 p.m. Feb. 1. The search for her killer continues as of press time.
Whoever pumped multiple gunshots into Dwumfour’s late model Nissan SUV left behind reverberations that are being felt across the state and country and across the ocean into Africa.
Dwumfour’s loss is being felt in Sayreville, Trenton, Nigeria and Newark. Those here in New Jersey’s largest city remember her as a South Ward girl who graduated with the Weequahic High School Class of 2010.
Dwumfour kept her Newark ties even through her major life changes.
She moved herself and her daughter, now 11, to Sayreville in 2018 but kept her Newark church membership. She married Eze Kings Akwue, a Nigerian pastor-University of Abuja student, in Abuja, Nigeria Nov. 24.
Father Prince and Mother Mary Dwumfour still live in a Weequahic apartment building. Each visit to her parents included stops in the neighborhood to check on her former neighbors, classmates and church members.
Eunice Dwumfour was born March 4, 1992 into a family of five first-generation Ghanaian-Americans. She was among the WHS Class of 2010 top 10 graduates, and wrote under her yearbook photo that she wanted to be remembered “for my weirdness and independence.
Dwumfour first moved onto the Wayne campus of now-William Paterson University in 2011. She preserved to graduate in January 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in women’s and gender studies with a minor in social justice.
She became a trained Passaic County EMS technician while at WPU. She working as a part-time EMT until Feb. 1.
Dwumfour meanwhile became Director of Churches for Champions Royal Assembly NA, since December 2016. Her membership is with the Abuja-headquartered church’s Newark branch at 982 Broad St.
She, on her LinkedIn page, calls herself as “Scrum Major and Business Analyst” for Fire Congress Fellowship on December 2016.
The fellowship is a house of worship in Sayreville’s Parlin section, not far from her Camelot at La Mer condominium townhouse. A Scrum Major, according to scrum.org, is a team leader shepherding peers in problem solving.
Her work experience includes being an IT business analyst for Telesis’ headquarters, McLean, Va., October 2015-December 2016.
Dwumfour, after moving to the Middlesex County borough of 45,000, soon joined the Sayreville Human Rights Commission. The panel focuses on diversity issues and bias incidents on the Raritan River south shore town.
She was encouraged by veteran Republican candidate Christian Onuoha to run for borough council in 2021. She ran as an advocate for “residents and first resources needed to thrive.” and improve Sayreville’s economic growth, roads and infrastructure.”
A majority of participating Sayreville voters narrowly favored Dwumfour and Onuoha over their Democratic incumbent opponents Nov. 2, 2021. Both were elected to three-year terms through 2024.
The reorganized Borough Council, on Jan. 3 2022 appointed Onuoha as Council President and Dwumfour as Public Safety Committee Chairwoman. Dwumfour was also made Council Liaison to the Human Relations Committee and Board of Health and as member of the Public Works and Recreation committees.
InsiderNJ.com, on Feb. 24, gave Dwumfour an honorable mention in their “African American Power List in Honor of Black History Month.”
Dwumfour and Akwue had their marriage ceremony Nov. 24 at the Champions Royal Assembly, Kubwa Abuja Nigeria Church Gallery. Akwue, on Feb. 3, posted photos of their wedding day and advanced a greeting ahead of what would have been her 31st birthday on his Facebook page.
“March 4 is your birthday,” said Akwue. “Happy glorious birthday in addy my love.”
Father Prince told the “Asbury Park Press” Feb. 2 that his daughter had “a traditional marriage” simultaneously in East Orange and Abuja Aug. 6. It was not known as of press time whether Akwue will make his first visit to the United States for her Aug. 8 memorial service in Sayreville.
Dwumfour had driven her Nissan SUV into Camelot at La Mer and onto Samuel Circle at 7:17 p.m. Fellow Human Rights Commission panelist Juan-Nelia Rodriguez said he saw her at a nearby store that morning.
La Mer neighbors’ peace would be shattered by the sound of gunshots – accounts range from three to 12 – and a crunching bang moments later. Some, while calling 911, said they had seen the Nissan after it had run about 100 feet into two parked cars: a Nissan Altima and a Mercedes.
Some of the witnesses and callers said they saw a man run out of La Mer, up a wooded hill, vault a 10-foot-high wall and sprinted some 200 years onto the Garden State Parkway property. Others, confirmed by a condominium video recording, said she was talking with a man standing outside of her car a moment before the gunfire.
Sayreville Police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, who promptly arrived, declared Dwumfour dead at 7:20 p.m. The crime scene investigation continued overnight and well into Feb. 2.
Detectives found 14 shell casings on the drive. Authorities combed the area for evidence, witnesses and for video recordings as far out as the nearby Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School.
“When she missed HRC meetings she would call me and asked that she be put on speaker phone so she could participate,” said panelist and La Mer neighbor Mahseh Chitnis. “We’ll miss her. I can’t believe that something like this can happen in my town.”
The investigation is being supported by the N.J. State Police. FBI Newark Office Special Agent James E. Dennehey, during a Feb. 2 news conference about the attempted firebombing of Bloomfield’s Temple Ner Tamid said that the office is “involved” in the Sayreville investigation.
Investigators, some of who have said that Dwumfour was “targeted,” have been otherwise sparing comment on any suspects, or motive or status of their probe.
SPD and the MCPO, since Feb. 3, have called the public for video tape or recordings, including dashboard camera footage, of Samuel Circle, Ernston Road, Gondek Avenue, Point of Woods Drive and a neighboring condominium tract. They are looking for vehicular and pedestrian movements between 6:30 and 8 p.m. Feb. 1.
Dwumfour’s killing prompted Sayreville’s Human Rights Commission to cancel their Thursday night meeting.
“The fact that she was taken from us by a despicable criminal act makes this incident all the more horrifying,” said Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick. “As Mayor, I’ve worked very closely with Eunice. Beyond her dedication to our community, 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.”
“While the investigation of the tragic death of Eunice Dwumfour continues, I ask anyone with information to immediately call law enforcement,” said Lt. Governor and fellow WHS alumna Sheila Y. Oliver, of East Orange. “I join in Sayreville in mourning an aspiring public servant who worked to make a positive difference in her community.”
“The tragic killing of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour in a shooting (Feb. 1) is shocking and horrifying,” said U.S. Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-Newark). “Her death is not just a terrible loss to her family, friends and colleagues but to the Sayreville Community and our state.”
Gov. Phil Murphy (D-Rumson) ordered all U.S. and N.J. flags be lowered to half-staff or half-mast during Feb. 8. During his Feb. 2 monthly WBGO-WNYC-WHYY radio call in show, the Governor said that he had talked with the Middlesex County Commission Director and the county and Sayreville GOP chairpersons among other longstanding political officials.
“(They) don’t recall a sitting elected official of the being shot or killed,” said Murphy that Thursday night. “It doesn’t appear to be related to her position as an elected councilwoman in Sayreville; please, God, it doesn’t.”
Dwumfour’s vigil or memorial service was scheduled for 6-9 p.m. Feb. 8 at Sayreville’s Epic Church International.
Anyone who has the above said video recordings and/or other information are to send it to: Sayreville Police Det. Rebecca Morales (732) 727-4444 and/or CIBevidence@sayreville.org. Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Det. Michelle Coppola (732) 745-3477.
