Mother of Slain Ghanaian Teen to Get Visa for Farewell

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday that President Donald Trump agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old immigrant from Ghana who was killed in the Bronx, allowing her to travel to the United States to bury her son. The White House did not immediately respond to an Associated Press email confirming the administration would issue the document.

Javits Frimpong was walking to school shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday in a Bronx neighborhood when he was shot in the abdomen, New York City police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital later that day. No arrests have been made, and the investigation continues. Frimpong arrived in the Bronx from Ghana a year ago to live with his father and start over in the United States, according to U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from the Bronx.

Mamdani posted the news Saturday on X. "Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person," he wrote. "I just got off the phone with President Trump and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately." He added, "All of New York City is mourning this tragedy."

The shooting followed reports of trouble at school. Thomas Frimpong, the teen's father, said a principal told him days earlier that two students had been disturbing his son and that both had been suspended. "My son is at school. He's innocent, so I call him," Thomas Frimpong said. "I talk with my son, he said 'dad, I'm OK.'" Thomas Frimpong described his son as quiet and said he spent much of his time on his cellphone.

Ghana's Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa wrote on X that Ghanaian officials in New York are working with local authorities and that the foreign ministry "will work tirelessly with U.S. authorities to ensure justice is secured." Torres wrote that "our entire borough is mourning a young man who should have had his whole future ahead of him."

The visa request comes as Trump has limited immigration during his second term, including suspending processing for applicants from 75 countries. Ghana is not identified in the source as one of those countries. Trump has not been shown in the source to have commented on the Bronx case.

No date has been set for when the visa would be issued or when the mother would travel. Police have made no arrests in the shooting, which remains under investigation.