New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said President Donald Trump agreed to immediately grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant who was fatally shot in the Bronx last week. The visa would allow her to travel to the United States to attend her son’s funeral and say goodbye in person.
Mamdani announced the agreement in a Saturday post on X, saying he had just spoken with Trump by telephone about Javits Frimpong’s mother. He described the anguish of losing a child while thousands of miles away and said the city was mourning the teenager. Fox News Digital contacted the White House for comment.
According to New York City Police, Frimpong was on his way to school in a Bronx neighborhood shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday when he was shot in the abdomen. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. The shooting remains under investigation, and police have made no arrests.
Frimpong had moved from Ghana to the Bronx a year earlier to live with his father and start a new life in the United States, according to Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat. Torres expressed grief over the teenager’s death and said children in the borough should be able to walk to school without fearing for their lives.
His father, Thomas Frimpong, described Javits as quiet and told reporters he had learned only days before the shooting that his son was being bullied at school. He said the principal informed him that two students had been suspended for troubling Javits. When he spoke with his son afterward, the teenager reassured him that he was okay.
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on X that Ghana’s officials in New York were coordinating with local authorities. He pledged that the foreign ministry would continue working with U.S. authorities to secure justice in the case.
Ablakwa also welcomed Mamdani’s involvement and Trump’s decision to grant a visa to the teenager’s mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi. He described her grief and stressed the importance of enabling her to pay her respects in person.
The foreign minister said Ghana’s government would cover all of Adu Gyamfi’s travel expenses. He added that the government was also prepared to contribute toward a dignified funeral for her son.
