Trump gives visa to mother of Ghanaian teen killed in New York shooting
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US President Donald Trump has agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant fatally shot in the Bronx, allowing her to travel from Ghana to New York to mourn her son in person, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday.
Javits Frimpong was shot once in the abdomen around 9:24–9:30 a.m. Thursday near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the Bronx, just steps from the apartment he shared with his father, while walking to DreamYard Preparatory School.
Officers rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
15-year-old Javits Frimpong was fatally shot on his way to school in the Bronx. His father believes the killing may be tied to bullying his son endured. He brought Javits from Ghana for a better life, only to lose him to violence. NO child should have to fear for their life on the way to school!
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) October 30, 2026
Police are seeking three teenage males, described as wearing black clothing and blue surgical masks, who fled the scene.
No arrests had been made as of the latest reports, and the investigation continues.
Surveillance video showed the teen being chased.Frimpong, a tenth-grader who aspired to become a doctor, had arrived in the Bronx from Ghana about a year earlier to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong, and start a new life in the United States.
The day before the shooting roughly marked the anniversary of his arrival.
His father described him as quiet, clever, and reserved, someone who spent much of his time on his phone and did not go out much.
Thomas Frimpong said his son had been bullied at school.
The principal contacted him about three days before the shooting to report that two students had been harassing Javits and were suspended.
The father recalled his son telling him: “Dad, any time I am going to lunch, that guy keep on bullying me. I have been reporting him several times.”
Thomas Frimpong called his son “my everything” and said, “I lost him. I don’t know what to do now.”
He has urged those responsible to turn themselves in to police.Mamdani announced the visa decision after speaking with Trump by phone.
“The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away,” the mayor wrote on X.
“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. All of New York City is mourning this tragedy.”
The White House did not immediately confirm the arrangement in response to inquiries.
US Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat representing the Bronx, noted that Frimpong had come to the United States to begin a new life with his father.
“Our entire borough is mourning a young man who should have had his whole future ahead of him,” Torres said.
“Every child in the Bronx deserves to walk to school without fearing for their life, and no parent should ever have to endure what Javits’s father, Thomas, is enduring now.”
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. All of New York City is mourning this tragedy.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 31, 2026
Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghanaian officials in New York were coordinating with local authorities and that the foreign ministry would work to ensure justice.
