A 15-Year-Old Was Chased Down and Shot on His Way to School in the Bronx. Mamdani Says Trump Agreed by Phone to Let His Mother Come Say Goodbye

Javits Frimpong came to New York from Ghana a year ago to start a new life with his father. On Thursday he was shot dead on his way to school. His mother is still in Ghana, and on Saturday New York's mayor said President Trump had agreed, in a single phone call, to let her come say goodbye.

"I just got off the phone with President Trump and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately," Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted Saturday. "Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person." The post passed 4 million views within hours. The White House had not commented publicly by Saturday night.

Chased down a block from home

Javits Frimpong was 15. Police say he was walking to school just before 9:30 Thursday morning when he was shot once in the stomach near Crotona Park in the Bronx's Claremont section. He ran about a block before he collapsed. Officers drove him to St. Barnabas Hospital in their patrol car, where he died.

Police are looking for three teenage boys, 16 to 18, last seen in black clothes and blue surgical masks, ABC7 New York reported. No one has been arrested and police have not given a motive.

His father, Thomas Frimpong, a cab driver, told reporters his son had been bullied at school and that the principal told him three days before the shooting that two students had been suspended for a week. "The school can testify my son is always quiet. Always," he said. He brought Javits over from Ghana in 2025. The boy's mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, stayed behind.

Ghana thanks Trump

Ghana's foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, had already called the father on Friday and sent officials from Ghana's mission in New York to the family. After Mamdani's post, he answered: "The Government of Ghana welcomes your intervention and President Trump's timely decision."

Ablakwa said he spoke with the mother on Friday and assigned his ministry's officials to walk her through the visa application. Ghana's government, he said, will pay the full cost of her trip and "stands ready to contribute towards a dignifying funeral."

Not the first time Trump has said yes to Ghana

Ghana is not one of the 39 countries under Trump's travel proclamation, which took effect Jan. 1, so Ghanaians can still get visitor visas. What Trump's word adds is speed: a normal application means paperwork, an interview and a wait, and this mother has a funeral to reach.

Relations were not always this smooth. In July 2025, the administration cut most visas for Ghanaians down to three months and a single entry, citing overstays. After months of talks, the U.S. Embassy in Accra announced on Sept. 27, 2025, that five-year, multiple-entry visitor visas were back.

Two men who keep finding common ground

Trump and Mamdani have been unlikely partners since their friendly Oval Office meeting last November, after which Trump called it "a Great Honor" to meet the incoming mayor. They are still far apart on plenty. On Saturday, the mayor needed one thing from the president, and by his own account he got it on one call.

The Bronx still needs something else: an arrest. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.