President Donald Trump has agreed to grant an immediate visa to Doris Adu Gyamfi, the mother of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong, the Ghanaian schoolboy shot dead while walking to school in the Bronx on Thursday, October 29, 2026, so she can travel from Ghana to New York to say goodbye to her son in person. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the breakthrough on Saturday, October 31, 2026, after a telephone call with the president, and Ghana's government said it will pay the full cost of her travel.
Javits Frimpong, a 10th-grade student at DreamYard Preparatory School, was shot once in the abdomen shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the Bronx, close to Crotona Park. Police officers who responded found him with a gunshot wound and rushed him to St Barnabas Hospital, where he later died. He had moved from Ghana to the United States about a year ago to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong, a yellow cab driver in New York, while his mother remained in Ghana. The day before the shooting had been his one-year mark in the United States, his father told reporters.
On Saturday, Mayor Mamdani posted on X that he had spoken with President Trump and that the president had agreed to grant the visa immediately. "The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away. Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person. I just got off the phone with President Trump, and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately," Mamdani wrote. "All of New York City is mourning this tragedy." Ghanaian media reported that Ghana's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, then announced that the government would cover the full cost of Madam Gyamfi's travel to New York, after speaking with her on Friday and assigning foreign ministry officials to assist with the visa application process.
The shooting has shaken the Bronx community and drawn tributes from across New York. A vigil was held for Javits, where the community comforted his family, and artists including Cardi B and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie paid tribute. The teenager's father, Thomas Frimpong, who moved to New York from Ghana in 2000, told reporters he believes bullying may have contributed to the tragedy. He said the school principal told him that two students who had bullied Javits were suspended for a week, three days before the shooting, and he has told reporters he knows who was responsible. Police have not confirmed that account and have not established a motive; the investigation continues, and anyone with information can contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
The visa breakthrough is unusual in its speed and in its route: a Democratic mayor of New York City asking a Republican president directly, and receiving an immediate agreement. Mamdani's office did not specify what kind of visa would be issued or the exact processing arrangements, and the White House had not responded to a request for comment at the time of the Ghanaian reports. Until the visa is in Madam Gyamfi's hands, as one detailed account noted, the promise remains a promise. But the Ghanaian government's decision to fund her travel, announced hours after Mamdani's post, suggests both governments expect her to travel to New York in the coming days.
At the heart of the story is a distance that made the grief harder to bear. Madam Gyamfi lives in Kumasi, Ghana, thousands of miles from the Bronx street where her son was killed. She had been unable to travel for the funeral until the visa breakthrough. Ghana's Foreign Minister said he had spoken with her on Friday, conveyed President John Mahama's condolences, and said officials from Ghana's Permanent Mission in New York had visited the family. The minister's message, quoted in Ghanaian media, welcomed Mamdani's intervention and President Trump's timely decision, adding: "We have always known we can count on our own Kwame Mamdani."
For the family, the practical questions now are funeral arrangements and the investigation. Madam Gyamfi is expected to travel to New York in the coming days to join her husband and attend the funeral arrangements for her son. The community, meanwhile, continues to mourn a 15-year-old who had been in the United States for only a year, a newcomer still finding his place at school, whose walk to school on a Thursday morning ended in a hospital in the Bronx.
Mamdani's full statement, posted on X on October 31, 2026, read: "The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away. Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person. I just got off the phone with President Trump and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately. All of New York City is mourning this tragedy."
Ghana's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced in a post on X on Saturday, October 31, 2026, that the Government of Ghana will cover the full travel costs of Madam Doris Adu Gyamfi to enable her to travel to New York to pay her final respects to her son. The announcement followed Mamdani's disclosure and the intervention of the mayor and President Trump in securing the visa. Thomas Frimpong, the boy's father, has spoken publicly about bullying, telling reporters his son had complained about being bullied by fellow students and that those involved had recently been suspended. Police have not confirmed a link between any bullying and the shooting.
The case matters for three reasons. First, it is a human story about a child killed on his way to school, and about a mother who, until Saturday, could not reach her son's funeral. Second, it raises questions about school safety and bullying that the investigation and any school inquiry will have to address, even though police have not established a motive and no arrests have been made. Third, it is a rare moment of direct cooperation between a Democratic mayor and a Republican president in the final days before the November 3 midterm elections, when immigration is one of the most contested issues in American politics. The speed of the visa agreement, if it is delivered as announced, will be watched as a test of whether such interventions can cut through the usual bureaucracy in a bereavement case.
Madam Gyamfi is expected to travel to New York in the coming days, with Ghana's government covering her travel costs and foreign ministry officials assisting with the visa application. The funeral arrangements will follow her arrival. The NYPD investigation continues, with three teenage suspects, believed to be between 16 and 18 years old, still being sought and no arrests announced as of Saturday. Any further statement from the White House on the visa, and any update on the investigation, will be reported as it comes.
Who was Javits Frimpong? A 15-year-old Ghanaian student in the 10th grade at DreamYard Preparatory School in the Bronx, who had moved to the United States about a year ago to live with his father.
What happened to him? He was shot once in the abdomen on Thursday, October 29, 2026, near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Bronx while walking to school, and died in hospital.
What did President Trump agree to? After a phone call with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, President Trump agreed to grant an immediate visa to Javits's mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, so she can travel from Ghana to New York.
Who is paying for the mother's travel? Ghana's government said it will cover the full travel costs for Madam Gyamfi to attend her son's funeral.
Have police made any arrests? No arrests had been announced as of Saturday, October 31, 2026, with police searching for three teenage suspects.
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