Ghanaian Teenager Fatally Shot Near Bronx Home While Walking to School

NEW YORK — A 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant was fatally shot in the abdomen Thursday morning while walking to school in the Bronx, authorities said, as police search for three teenage suspects.

Javits Frimpong was struck once shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 29 near the intersection of East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont section of the borough, just steps from the apartment he shared with his father. The tenth-grader at Dream Yard Preparatory School managed to run about a block before collapsing. Officers found him conscious but drifting in and out of awareness and rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Police are seeking three males, ages 16 to 18, last seen wearing black clothing and blue surgical masks and fleeing toward Fulton Avenue. Surveillance video captured an individual matching the description—dressed in a black hoodie, black sweatpants and a mask—running from the scene. Investigators have determined that Frimpong was the intended target, though the motive remains unclear. No arrests had been announced as of Friday.

Frimpong moved from Ghana to the United States approximately one year earlier to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong. The day before the shooting marked the approximate anniversary of his arrival. His father described him as a quiet and academically gifted student who had earned high grades in Ghana and aspired to become a physician.

Thomas Frimpong told reporters that his son had repeatedly complained of bullying by classmates, including harassment on the way to lunch, and had reported the incidents to school officials. The school principal informed the father three days before the shooting that two students involved in a confrontation with Javits had been suspended for a week. The father learned of the shooting from the principal and has suggested a possible connection to the bullying, though authorities have not confirmed any link.

The New York Police Department continues to investigate. Officials from the school and the New York City Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the reported bullying.