The grieving mother of 15-year-old shooting victim Javits Frimpong broke down Wednesday as she spoke publicly for the first time about her son’s killing after receiving an emergency visa to travel from Ghana.
“I need justice for my child,” Doris Adu Gyamfi sobbed during a Harlem press conference organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the family’s attorney, Ben Crump. “I have only one child. I have only one child.”
Gyamfi was able to come to the United States after Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged President Trump to expedite her visa. She became overwhelmed with emotion as she continued speaking.
The emotional appearance came only hours after police arrested 17-year-old Thierno Jalloh in connection with Frimpong’s Oct. 29 killing. The teenager was shot while walking to school near East 171st Street and Third Avenue in The Bronx.
Frimpong’s family said his father brought him to New York from Ghana last year so he could pursue the American dream. The hardworking student hoped to become a doctor after serving in the military.
“It’s very difficult for me today,” his sister, Millicent Frimpong, told reporters. “I don’t know how to start, and I’m not sure how I’m going to end. I’m going to read some words from my brother’s journal about how proud he was to be in the United States.”
“He wanted to be a physician … and as soon as he finished high school, he wanted to join the military. He has three siblings who served in the Army. One is still serving. I’m a veteran.”
Millicent then read from her brother’s journal: “I am from Ghana. My family are my mother Doris, my father Thomas, my auntie Diana, my brothers Kenneth, Jeff, Richard, Anthony, and my sister Millicent.
“My friends are Lobo and Sumaya. School has been good since I came to the United States.”
Police have not revealed a possible motive for the shooting. Frimpong’s father, Thomas, told The Post that his son had been bullied at school, though it remains unclear whether that played a role in the killing.
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Sharpton and Crump joined the family at the National Action Network’s offices, calling for justice for Frimpong and speaking out against gun violence.
“The investigation and pursuit of justice should also address how minors obtained these guns, who is selling them, and how the weapons are ending up in the hands of children,” Sharpton said.
“We are not going to let the Javits case rest until those who used the guns are prosecuted, and the source of those guns is also investigated.”
Frimpong was shot in the abdomen shortly before 9:30 a.m. and was later pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. Disturbing video showed the bloodied teenager running before collapsing in the street.
The case remained unsolved until police located Jalloh. He faces charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the fatal shooting.
Frimpong’s death has left his family searching for answers and demanding justice.
Thomas Frimpong recalled picking up his son at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Oct. 28, 2025.
“I brought Javits from Ghana to continue his education here in the United States,” he said. “In fact, he was very, very, very excited, and he was living with me.”
He said he was at work when he received the phone call informing him of his son’s tragic death.
“Now all I’m saying,” he said Wednesday, “is that I need justice for my son.”