New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said President Donald Trump has agreed to quickly issue a visa to the mother of a Ghanaian teenager who was fatally shot in the Bronx last week.
“The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, especially from thousands of miles away,” Mamdani wrote Saturday. He said he had just spoken with Trump, who agreed to grant a visa so Javits Frimpong’s mother could say goodbye to her son in person.
Frimpong, 15, was on his way to school shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday when he was shot in the abdomen, New York City police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been made, and the shooting remains under investigation.
“All of New York City is mourning this tragedy,” Mamdani said.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat representing New York, said Frimpong had moved from Ghana to the Bronx about a year ago to live with his father and start a new life in the United States.
“Our entire borough is mourning a young man who should have had his whole future ahead of him,” Torres said. He added that children should be able to walk to school without fearing for their safety, and that no parent should have to face what Frimpong’s father, Thomas, is going through.
Thomas Frimpong described his son as quiet and said he had learned only days before the shooting that the teenager was being bullied at school. The principal told him two students had been bothering his son and had been suspended, he said. Thomas added that when he called Javits, his son told him he was okay.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said Ghanaian officials in New York were working with local authorities. He said the foreign ministry would work with U.S. officials to help ensure justice.
Ablakwa welcomed Mamdani’s efforts and Trump’s decision to grant a visa to the teenager’s mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi. He said her grief was unimaginable and that she should be able to attend her son’s funeral. Ghana’s government will cover her travel expenses and is prepared to help with funeral costs, he added.
