Gov’t Commends US Embassy For Expedited Visa For Family Of Slain Ghanaian Teen Javits Frimpong
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has commended the United States Embassy in Accra for expediting visa processing for the mother and cousin of Javits Badu Nkansah Frimpong.
Javits, a 15-year-old Ghanaian, was fatally shot in the Bronx, New York, while walking to school on the morning of Thursday, October 29, 2026.
He had moved to the US about a year ago to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong, and was a student at DreamYard Preparatory School.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Mr Ablakwa said he was grateful to US President Donald Trump and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for their special intervention.
“I wish to commend the US Embassy in Accra for the super-expedited same-day processing of the visa of the mother and cousin of Javits Frimpong yesterday,” he wrote.
“We are grateful to President Trump and Mayor Kwame Mamdani for their special intervention. All is now set for Madam Doris Adu Gyamfi and her niece to depart Ghana for the US in the next few hours.”
According to New York Police, Javits was shot in the abdomen near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont neighbourhood shortly before 9:30 a.m. and was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital later that day.
Police are searching for three teenage suspects, and no arrests have been made.
His father has said the teen had complained about being bullied at school and that two students had been suspended days before the shooting.
Mr Ablakwa said the Government of Ghana remains in close communication with US authorities on the status of investigations.
“We shall have no rest until justice is manifestly done,” he stated.
He assured that the Foreign Ministry and Ghana’s diplomatic missions will continue to actively pursue justice for all Ghanaians abroad.
“The Foreign Ministry and our diplomatic missions will continue to actively pursue justice for all our compatriots everywhere in the world — an attack on a Ghanaian anywhere in the world is an attack on all of us.”
“No parent deserves to lose their 15-year-old in these heart-wrenching circumstances. We shall continue to keep the parents of Javits Frimpong and his dear family in our thoughts and prayers.”
Click to read more: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
