5 min read
Major Takeaways
- Javits Frimpong, 15, was shot once in the abdomen on Thursday morning while walking to his Bronx school and later died at the hospital.
- His father says Javits had reported repeated bullying at lunch and told him, in his own words, that he had reported the student several times.
- Police are searching for three teenagers and have not confirmed any motive or any link between the shooting and the reported bullying.
Javits Frimpong did what adults always tell children to do. When another student would not leave him alone, he spoke up.
On Thursday morning, the 15 year old from Ghana was walking to school in the Bronx when he was shot once in the abdomen. He ran about a block before he collapsed.
Officers rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital. He died there, one year after arriving in New York to live with his father and chase a better life.
A Short Walk He Made Every School Morning
The shooting happened shortly before 9:30 in the morning near East 171st Street and Crotona Place. The corner sits in the Claremont section of the Bronx, close to Crotona Park.
Javits lived with his father in an apartment around the corner from where he fell. He was headed to DreamYard Preparatory School, where he was a student.
Police say they are looking for three teenage boys, ages 16 to 18. The three were last seen wearing black clothing and blue surgical masks.
Surveillance video captured at least one suspect running from the scene. As of Friday, police had announced no arrests in the case.
Investigators have not said what led to the gunfire. They are asking anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1 800 577 TIPS.
He Kept Telling, His Father Says
Thomas Frimpong, 60, learned his son had been shot from the school principal. The call was not their first hard conversation that week.
Three days before the shooting, the principal contacted him about an incident at school. Two boys had fought with Javits, and the two boys were suspended for a week.
The father says the principal told him plainly that his son had done nothing wrong. “The principal told me Javits is innocent,” he said. “Javits is innocent. He was defending himself.”
That talk opened a door. Javits finally told his father what lunch period had become for him at school.
“Any time I am going to lunch, that guy keep on bullying me,” the boy told him. “I have been reporting him several times.”
The father believes the bullying and the killing are connected. Police have not confirmed that belief, and investigators have not named a motive.
The school and the Department of Education had not answered questions about the bullying reports as of the latest reporting. For this family, that silence is part of the wound.
A Father Brought His Son Here for a Better Life
Thomas Frimpong brought Javits from Ghana about a year ago. The boy’s mother remains in Ghana, and father and son shared the Bronx apartment on their own.
He describes a quiet child who mostly kept to himself. He calls his son precious and very clever, a boy who stayed inside more than he roamed the streets.
Speaking from the hospital where his son was pronounced dead, his grief was plain. “It’s not easy for me,” he said. “He’s my everything. I’m here with him alone.”
He also had words for the teenagers police are hunting. “I don’t think they are going to go free for killing an innocent child,” he said.
Neighbors Are Asking How Many Warnings Are Enough
The killing has shaken the blocks around Crotona Park. Parents who walk their own children past the same corners are asking hard questions out loud.
“He was just going to school, like doing what he was supposed to do,” one longtime resident said.
Another neighbor, Cecile Johnson, kept it simple. “It’s devastating,” she said. “I got a son that’s 9. It’s sad.”
One resident aimed his frustration at City Hall and pleaded for after school programs and more for young people to do. “Too much idle time on a young man’s hands means trouble,” he said.
What Every Parent and Every School Should Hear
Police may never tie this shooting to a lunchroom bully, and honesty demands we say that clearly. The investigation is young, and no suspect has even been named.
But a child is dead who told the adults around him exactly what was happening to him. That fact stands no matter what detectives find next.
When a child reports bullying, the report itself should set something visible in motion. A parent should be able to ask what happened after the report and get an answer in writing.
Families who are new to this country deserve that clarity most of all. A father who sent for his son across an ocean should never be left to count the warnings on his own.
Tell your children to keep telling. Then make sure someone is keeping count of the times they told.
Javits Frimpong was 15 years old. He had been in America for one year, and he was walking to school.
Anyone who knows something about Thursday morning is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 577 TIPS. His father is still waiting for answers, and so is the neighborhood that watched him fall.
Follow continuing coverage in our News reporting and our True Crime coverage as this investigation develops.
