President Donald Trump agreed to grant an immediate visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant fatally shot in the Bronx, after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani intervened on Saturday, city officials confirmed.
The Fatal Shooting Near Crotona Park
Javits Frimpong was walking to DreamYard Preparatory School on the morning of October 29, 2026, when he was shot in the borough’s Claremont neighborhood. Police responding to reports of gunfire near Crotona Park found the 15-year-old with a gunshot wound to his stomach at approximately 9:24 a.m., according to the New York City Police Department. Representative Ritchie Torres noted that the community was left mourning a young person who should have had a full future ahead of him. Surveillance footage reportedly captured the teenager running through the neighborhood as a person dressed in all black trailed behind him, with other camera angles showing masked individuals in dark clothing fleeing the scene.
Officers drove Javits in a patrol car to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A witness recalled seeing the victim running before a shot rang out and he went down with blood on his white T-shirt, while a manager from a nearby homeless shelter applied pressure to the wound before emergency medical services arrived. A witness told reporters that individuals had been waiting for the teenager in the park wearing hoodies and masks. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark publicly urged the individuals responsible to turn themselves in before taking another innocent life. The Ghana Diaspora Public Affairs Collective issued a statement noting that while the Bronx has experienced separate violent tragedies involving Ghanaian community members over the year, investigators have not established any connection to the victims’ national identity.
President Trump Agrees to Visa for Doris Adu Gyamfi
With Javits’s mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, remaining thousands of miles away in Kumasi, Ghana, city leadership stepped in to secure travel permissions. Following a conversation with the White House, Mayor Mamdani announced on social media that federal authorities would clear her entry so she could attend her son’s funeral.
The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away. Javits Frimpong’s mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person. I just got off the phone with President Trump and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately.
Ghanaian officials coordinated directly with the grieving mother to assist her with the expedited visa paperwork as she traveled from Kumasi to Accra.
A Father Remembers a Quiet, Clever Son
Javits had arrived in New York just a year prior to reunite with his father, Thomas Frimpong, seeking safety and educational opportunity. His sister, Millicent Frimpong, shared journal entries in which the teenager wrote about his determination to continue his studies, his fondness for reading books and exploring nature, and his modest savings kept in his room to support friends back in Ghana.
Thomas Frimpong stated that his son was targeted by bullies at his school and that the principal had informed him recently that two students had been suspended for harassing Javits. The father emphasized that his son was innocent and had not been the aggressor in the school disputes. An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment on whether the bullying reports were directly connected to the shooting.
The Ongoing Search for Three Teenage Suspects
As of Monday, November 2, 2026, police have made no arrests. Investigators continue to search for three teenage boys seen fleeing the area in dark clothing and blue surgical masks. Community members, local leaders, and figures such as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie—who stopped his concert at UBS Arena to hold a moment of silence with a photo of Javits displayed on the center screen—have held vigils and paid tribute to the slain teenager as the investigation remains open.