“I Want Justice for My Son”: Ghanaian Mother Speaks Out as Black Child Shot in US
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Doris Adu Gyamfi, mother of 15-year-old Ghanaian Javits Badu Nkansah Frimpong, has spoken publicly for the first time, calling for justice as she departed Ghana for the United States (US) to attend her son’s funeral.
“I want justice for my son. All I wanted was for him to become a doctor,” she said at the airport before boarding her flight.
Javits was fatally shot on the morning of October 29, 2026, while walking to DreamYard Preparatory School in the Claremont neighbourhood of the Bronx, New York. He had moved from Ghana approximately one year earlier to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong.
According to reports, the teenager was chased and shot near East 171st Street. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. New York Police Department detectives are investigating the case and are searching for three suspects believed to be teenagers. Possible motives under review include robbery, mistaken identity, and bullying. No arrests have been announced.
The mother received an emergency visa to travel to the US after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he had spoken with President Donald Trump, who agreed to grant the request so she could say goodbye to her son in person. Ghanaian officials, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, facilitated the process and offered support to the family.
Javits’s death has prompted widespread mourning among Ghanaian communities in both Ghana and the United States, along with public calls for accountability. Family members and supporters have stressed that African children should not face violence while seeking education and opportunity abroad.
Adu Gyamfi’s public statement centres on her demand for those responsible to be identified and held to account, and on the loss of her son’s aspiration to study medicine. As she arrives in New York to bury her child, the investigation continues, and the family continues to seek answers.
