Trump agrees to visa for mother of Bronx shooting victim Javits Frimpong

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday, 31 October, that President Donald Trump has agreed to grant a visa immediately to the mother of Javits Frimpong, the 15-year-old boy shot dead on his way to school in the Bronx.

Mamdani said he spoke to Trump by phone and shared the news on X. “The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away,” he wrote. “Javits Frimpong’s mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person.”

Javits, a 10th-grade student at DreamYard Preparatory School, was shot in the abdomen shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, 29 October, in the Claremont area of the Bronx, police said. He died in hospital later that day. No arrests had been made by Saturday, and police had not given a motive.

His mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, is in Ghana. His father, Thomas Frimpong, lives in New York, where Javits had moved about a year ago. Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said on Saturday that Ghana would pay for her travel and help with the funeral costs.

Why it matters

The case has drawn wide attention because it joins two painful issues: a child killed on the school run, and a family split across continents. For Javits’s mother, the visa is the difference between grieving from afar and being able to say goodbye in person.

It also stands out against the wider picture. Trump has tightened immigration rules during his second term, including suspending visa processing from 75 countries, according to the Associated Press. This time, the mayor said, the president agreed to act at once.

What happens next

The White House had not independently confirmed the visa when the Associated Press reported the story on Saturday. The type of visa and the timing of the mother’s travel were also not yet clear.

Ghana’s foreign ministry said its officials in New York were helping the family and working with US authorities. Police in New York are still looking for the people behind the shooting, and the investigation continues.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

• https://www.kcau9.com/news/national/ap-mamdani-says-trump-agrees-to-grant-visa-to-mother-of-ghanian-teen-killed-in-bronx-shooting/ (Associated Press via KCAU 9, 31 October 2026)
• https://ghananewss.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-secures-trumps-approval-for-visa-for-mother-of-slain-ghanaian-teenager-in-bronx/ (Ghana News Online, 31 October 2026)
• https://ghanapressnetwork.com/2026/10/31/ablakwa-govt-will-pay-full-cost-of-javits-frimpongs-mothers-trip/ (Ghana Press Network, 31 October 2026)