New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Saturday that President Donald Trump has agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old immigrant from Ghana who was fatally shot in the Bronx earlier this week. The White House has not yet responded to a request for confirmation from The Associated Press.
Javits Frimpong was shot in the abdomen on Thursday morning while on his way to school in the Bronx. He was pronounced dead at a hospital later that day. Police have made no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing.
"The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away," Adams posted on X, formerly Twitter. "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."
Frimpong had moved to the Bronx from Ghana a year prior with his father, according to U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat representing the Bronx. Torres also noted on X that Frimpong was en route to school when he was shot.
"Our entire borough is mourning a young man who should have had his whole future ahead of him," Torres stated. "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."
Thomas Frimpong described his son as a quiet teenager who had recently reported being bullied at school. He said the principal had informed him about the bullying a few days before the shooting and that the suspended students were not present on the day Javits was killed.
Ghana's Foreign Minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, stated that Ghanaian officials in New York are collaborating with local authorities. The foreign ministry "will work tirelessly with U.S. authorities to ensure justice is secured."