Bronx, New York: Javits Frimpong, 15, Shot Dead Walking to School in Claremont as Police Search for Three Teens

Updated 23:57 UTC: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday that President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to grant Javits Frimpong's mother a visa immediately, so she can travel from Ghana to New York and say goodbye to her son in person. "The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away," Mamdani 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." The White House did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request to confirm that the visa would be issued. Ghana's foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said his government will pay the full cost of the mother's trip to New York and contribute toward the funeral. He said he spoke with the mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, on Friday and directed foreign ministry officials to help her through the visa process, and that Ghanaian officials in New York are coordinating with local authorities. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from the Bronx, said: "Our entire borough is mourning a young man who should have had his whole future ahead of him." No arrests have been made, and the investigation continues.

A 15 year old boy walking to school in the Bronx on Thursday morning was shot once in the abdomen and died at a hospital, and New York police were still searching on Friday for three teenagers in connection with the killing.

Javits Frimpong was shot shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the Bronx, according to the New York Police Department accounts carried by CBS News New York, FOX 5 New York and News 12. Officers who reached the scene put the wounded teenager in a patrol car and drove him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. ABC7 New York reported that surveillance video shows Frimpong running about a block after he was hit before he collapsed.

The shooting happened around the corner from the apartment Frimpong shared with his father, Thomas Frimpong, 60, and on his route to DreamYard Preparatory School, where he was a student. He had moved to the United States from Ghana about a year ago to live with his father, while his mother remained in Ghana. His father told CBS News New York by phone from the hospital that the school principal had called him that morning, first because his son had not arrived and then with the news that he had been shot.

The search for three teenagers

Police said they are looking for three people, described as teenage boys between 16 and 18 years old, who were last seen wearing black clothing and blue surgical masks. FOX 5 reported that investigators say the three were last seen heading south on Fulton Avenue toward Crotona Park. No arrests had been announced as of Friday afternoon, October 30, and police have not said what led to the shooting or whether Frimpong was the intended target.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish speakers.

A father says his son reported bullying

Thomas Frimpong told CBS News New York that the principal had also contacted him a few days before the shooting, after an incident involving his son. He said two boys had fought with his son and that the two boys were suspended. He said his son had told him he was being picked on at lunch and that he had reported it to the school several times. Speaking to reporters, the father said of his son: "He's my everything. I'm here with him alone."

Police have not established a motive and have not confirmed any connection between the reported bullying and the shooting. CBS News New York said it reached out to the school and to the city Department of Education about the bullying claims and that neither immediately responded.