Javits Frimpong shooting: Teen arrested after Ghanaian student killed on way to school in New York City
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A teenager has been arrested for murder after a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant was shot and killed on his way to school in New York City.
Javits Frimpong was fatally shot on a Bronx street on Oct. 29. News of a 17-year-old’s arrest in the case came Wednesday as Javits’ family gathered for a previously planned news conference. The male suspect, who has not been named, is being charged with murder, the New York Police Department said.
“I need justice for my child,” Javits’ mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, said through tears at the event attended by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Ghana’s U.N. ambassador, Samuel Yao Kumah, at Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters.
Javits’ death sparked protests in New York and led Mayor Zohran Mamdani to ask President Donald Trump to arrange a visa for Frimpong’s mother to travel to the U.S.
The teen’s family previously said he was being bullied at school. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said police were looking into bullying as a possible motive, along with robbery. Kenny suggested there were “three perpetrators” involved.
“What we’re all wondering is: Why?” Crump said Wednesday as the teen’s mother wept on Sharpton’s shoulder. “Why did they kill this young man, this person with such a bright future?”
Kumah called the arrest “a step in the right direction” after detailing how Javits’ death shocked Ghanaians.
Javits joined his father, Thomas Frimpong, in the U.S. a year ago in search of better educational opportunities. His father said Javits “was living the dream.”
Javits’ sister, Millicent Frimpong, said he wanted to become a physician and follow his family’s footsteps by joining the military.
“He was so ready that he made me save my uniform for him,” she said. She also recounted how the teen had written in his journal that he was proud to be in the U.S. and that school was going well.
Thomas Frimpong has said that school bullies were bothering his son, a quiet teen who spent much of his time on his cellphone, but that Javits told him: “Dad, I’m OK.” Two students were suspended because of the bullying, the father said.
A funeral for Frimpong is scheduled for Nov. 20.
