Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Emmanuel Victor Smith, has assured Ghanaians that justice will prevail in the case of the Ghanaian teenager killed in the Bronx, New York.
He says the US government is saddened by the incident and cannot sweep it under the carpet.
In a Zoom interview on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, on Monday, November 2, 2026, Ambassador Smith said the Ghanaian mission is closely monitoring the case with the consulate in New York and the State Department.
His comments follow the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Ghanaian teenager, Javits Badu Nkansah Frimpong, on Thursday, October 29, 2026, in the Claremont neighbourhood of the Bronx.
The teenager was shot once in the abdomen shortly before 9:30 a.m. near East 171st Street and Crotona Place while walking to school. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Javits had moved from Ghana to the United States exactly a year ago to join his father, Thomas Frimpong, 60, and was a student of DreamYard Preparatory School. His father described him as his “everything” and said the boy had complained of being bullied at school.
According to police, they are searching for three teenage suspects aged 16 to 18 who were last seen wearing black clothing and blue surgical masks. No arrests have been made and the motive remains unclear.
The killing has sparked outrage among Ghanaians at home and in the U.S., with hundreds marching in New York City chanting “Justice for Javits”. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Congressman Ritchie Torres and Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa have all condemned the incident.
Mayor Mamdani has said U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to grant an immediate visa to the teenager’s mother, Doris Gyamfi, who lives in Kumasi, to travel to New York for his burial.
Officials from Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations have also visited the family to commiserate them.
However, Ambassador Smith said everybody has condemned what happened and the law must take its course.
“Everybody has condemned what happened. It shouldn’t have happened. Innocent young boy and his face even shows he is innocent and such a tragedy has befell him so we expect that the law will take its course in this country,” he said.
“I have heard that some people have been arrested but they are yet to say who exactly did what they did,” he added.
He said the mission is monitoring the case closely.
“We are all monitoring with the consulate in New York, talking to state departments, they are all saddened by the incident, the government is saddened by the incident. They cannot sweep this thing under the carpet,” he stated.
He added that “justice must prevail. That one, I can assure you and we’ll follow to ensure whatever is fair and just treatment that will calm all Ghanaians.”
