Javits Frimpong was a 15-year-old Ghanaian student living in the Bronx.
Police have charged a teenager over the Bronx shooting as the Ghanaian student’s family presses for justice.
New York police have charged a 17-year-old boy in the Javits Frimpong murder case. The 15-year-old Ghanaian student died after a shooting near Crotona Park in the Bronx on October 29.
Officers arrested the suspect at his Bronx home on Wednesday, November 11. They then took him to the NYPD’s 42nd Precinct for questioning.
The teenager faces murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon charges. Police had initially sought three teenage boys in connection with the killing, and investigators say further arrests could follow.
Family seeks answers in Javits Frimpong murder case
The arrest came hours before lawyers representing Frimpong’s family held a press conference in Harlem to demand justice. His mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, also appealed for accountability, saying he was her only child.
Civil rights figure Rev Al Sharpton and lawyer Ben Crump attended the gathering. The family has retained Crump to represent them as the investigation continues.
In a statement, Crump described the charges against a juvenile suspect as an important step towards accountability. However, he said the family still wanted answers about what led to the killing and whether anyone could have prevented it.
Gyamfi travelled to the United States after her son’s death. She also spoke of her hopes for his future, saying she had wanted him to become a doctor.
Student had moved from Ghana a year earlier
Police responded to the shooting at about 9.24am and found Frimpong with a gunshot wound to his stomach. He later died at a nearby hospital.
Frimpong attended DreamYard Preparatory School, where he was a 10th-grade student. His death has shaken fellow students and the Bronx’s Ghanaian community.
He had moved from Ghana to the United States a year earlier to live with his father, a taxi driver. The killing occurred around the first anniversary of his arrival in New York.
His father described him as intelligent and reserved. He also said his son had experienced bullying at school.
