Mamdani says Trump agreed to grant a visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, the Bronx teen shot on his way to school

The mother of Javits Frimpong, the 15-year-old shot and killed on his way to school in the Bronx this week, will be allowed to travel from Ghana to say goodbye to her son, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday.

Mamdani wrote on X that he had just spoken with President Donald Trump, who agreed to grant her visa "immediately," Gothamist and ABC7 reported. The mayor said Frimpong's mother "deserves to say goodbye to her son in person." The White House did not immediately respond to Gothamist's request for comment, and no federal agency had confirmed the visa as of Saturday evening.

What happened

Frimpong was shot once in the abdomen just before 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the Bronx, less than a block from Crotona Park, according to the NYPD as reported by CBS New York. Officers drove him in a patrol car to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Gothamist reported. He had been walking to DreamYard Preparatory School.

No arrests had been announced as of Saturday. CBS New York reported that police are looking for three teenage boys, ages 16 to 18, last seen wearing all-black clothing and blue surgical masks; ABC7 also said three teens are being sought. Gothamist reported that authorities had not publicly named or described suspects or said what led to the shooting.

His father, Thomas Frimpong, told reporters that he brought his son from Ghana to live with him about a year ago. He told ABC7 his son had been bullied at school and that the students involved had recently been suspended. The city Department of Education told ABC7 it is offering counseling to students, families and staff and supporting the NYPD's investigation.

A community asking for answers

Religious leaders, relatives and neighbors held a vigil Friday at the spot where Frimpong collapsed, ABC7 reported. The Ghana Diaspora Public Affairs Collective told Gothamist that recent violent incidents involving Ghanaians in the Bronx, including an elderly couple robbed at gunpoint at a Gun Hill Road bus stop days earlier, are separate and not shown to be connected, but have heightened safety fears. The group asked city leaders to engage directly with the community.

A Mamdani spokesperson, Sam Raskin, told Gothamist the mayor called the family Friday and that the Office of Community Safety funded and coordinated grief counselors, outreach specialists and other support in the neighborhood.

Anyone with information can call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).