Neighbors of slain Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour said they heard six shots ring out Wednesday night and saw her SUV roll down a hill in the townhouse development and stop after hitting multiple parked vehicles.
Dwumfour appeared to have been targeted, according to several people.
“Definitely doesn’t look like something that was accidental,” Grady Reilly said. “I’m not an expert but it looked like something that was targeted. It was a tight grouping of easily a half-dozen gunshots in the window.”
“To think that this is something that can happen here, a couple blocks away from a school, 20 feet away from a children’s playground, is shocking to me. If this was during the summer there would’ve been kids all up and down the street at that time,” Reilly said.
A different neighbor said he was in bed watching television when he heard gunshots. He got up, walked onto his balcony and saw the shooter run up a hill between two buildings, scale an approximately 10-foot brick retaining wall with a white fence on top of it and hop the fence before running in the direction of the Garden State Parkway, he said.
The Parkway is about 200 yards from where the shooting took place around 7:20 p.m. in the Camelot at La Mer townhome complex in the Parlin section of the borough.
The shooter was wearing a hoodie, the neighbor said.
“I heard three shots and a pause, and three more shots,” said Pete Tresch, who lives nearby.
Authorities said Dwumfour, 30, was struck multiple times while in her car in the area of Samuel Circle at about 7:20 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. Photos of the investigation Wednesday night showed at least 14 evidence markers in the parking lot.
- MORE COVERAGE: Gov. Murphy, officials stunned and horrified by shooting death of Sayreville councilwoman
Tresch said he called 911 as soon as heard the shots.
“I knew right away and I was on the phone with 911 as I was going down the stairs,” he said. “I came over and another neighbor came out at the same time. I saw the vehicle and I knew.”
Another neighbor saw evidence of gunshots on the driver’s side and windshield of the SUV before it was towed away Wednesday night. Neighbors said the shooting appeared to be targeted as the shooter stopped, opened fire and then fled.
A different neighbor said she regularly saw Dwumfour at the townhouse complex.
“I’ve seen her almost once a week walking here,” said Marybeth Sgrillo. “Very pretty, very nice, very smiley. I didn’t talk to her, I might’ve said ‘Hi’ from up in the balcony, but that’s it. I’m shaking. It’s going to take a while for this … because it’s a quiet, peaceful complex here. It doesn’t happen here.”
Sgrillo said hearing the gunshots was “horrifying.”
Another neighbor, Genevieve Kersey, said she is hoping for a quick arrest.
“I hope they find who did it really fast because that girl was really educated, she was beautiful, and she was somebody in the community,” Kersey said. “So I hope they get him or her.”
Authorities have offered no motive in the killing Thursday and no announcements about an arrest were made.
Dwumfour was in her first three-year term as a council member in Sayreville. She was elected in November 2021 and took office in January 2022.
She had a young daughter and recently announced she had gotten married, neighbors and local officials said.
“Eunice was a dedicated member of our borough council who was truly committed to serve our residents,” Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick said in a statement. “The fact she was taken from us by this despicable criminal act makes this incident all the more horrifying.”
NJ Advance Media staff writer Jeff Goldman contributed to this report.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices