Arrest lands as victim’s family and Ghana officials press for answers
New York City police said Wednesday that a 17-year-old male is in custody in the Oct. 29 fatal shooting of Javits Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant who was struck by gunfire on a Bronx street while walking to school. The announcement reached the public as the victim’s family, the Ghanaian government and civil rights advocates pressed investigators for more information about the killing.
The suspect was arrested on murder and other charges in Frimpong’s death, the New York Police Department said. The suspect’s name was not released, and it was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney who can respond to the allegations.
Frimpong had come to the Bronx from Ghana a year earlier to live with his father and begin a new life in the U.S. His father, Thomas Frimpong, has described him as a quiet teen who spent much of his time on his cellphone, and has said school bullies were bothering him. Two students were suspended because of the bullying, the father said. The teen’s family has also said he was being bullied at school.
Police did not say what motivated the Oct. 29 gunfire. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last week that officers were looking into bullying or other possible motives, such as robbery, and Kenny suggested there were “three perpetrators” involved.
The killing prompted 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.
News of the arrest came as Frimpong’s mother and his father, Thomas Frimpong, joined civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Ghana’s U.N. ambassador, Samuel Yao Kumah, at a previously planned news conference in New York on Wednesday. The group appealed for tips in the case.
After leading a chant of “Justice for Javits!,” Crump noted the arrest, but added: “What we’re all wondering is: Why? Why did they kill this young man, this person with such a bright future?”