Eunice Dwumfour, a New Jersey borough councilwoman, was found shot to death near her home Wednesday night. Gunshots were reported in Sayreville, a borough in New Jersey's Middlesex County, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Sayreville Police Chief Daniel Plumacker. When police officers arrived, they found Dwumfour in her vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene, reports USA Today. “She was a 30-year-old woman. To have this happen in such a tragic way, I mean, our hearts are just broken and everybody wants an answer,” said Karen Bailey Bebert, the local Republican chairwoman who was her campaign manager. “So we’re waiting with bated breath.”
Authorities have not said whether they believe the motive for the killing might be personal, political, or a random act. Dwumfour had described herself as a proud graduate of Newark public schools who earned a degree in women’s studies at William Patterson University while working part-time as an EMT. Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick said Dwumfour, a Republican, was a woman of deep faith and worked hard to integrate strong Christian beliefs into her daily life as a person and a community leader. "We ... look forward to the identification, arrest, and successful prosecution of the person responsible,” Kilpatrick said. Mahesh Chitnis, a member of Sayreville's Human Relations Commission, of which Dwumfour was a member, said she was killed 300 feet from his home. "She was shot while returning back home," he said. Sayreville, a borough of 45,000 people, is about 30 miles south of Manhattan.