A 17-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong in the Bronx.
The teen was taken to his home in the Bronx for questioning Wednesday morning and taken to the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) 42nd Precinct. The suspect, whose identity has not been released, faces several charges, including murder, manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and other firearms-related offenses.
Investigators were previously searching for three teenagers believed to be connected to the shooting. The authorities do not rule out the possibility of new arrests. It remains unclear whether the suspect and victim knew each other.
The arrest came just hours before lawyers representing Frimpong’s family held a news conference in Harlem.
The deadly incident occurred on October 29 near Crotona Park in the Bronx. Officers responded to a report of a shooting around 9:24 a.m. and found Frimpong suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the New York Police Department.
The 15-year-old was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police initially said no arrests had been made as investigators searched for three teenage suspects.
Surveillance video reportedly showed Frimpong running while someone dressed entirely in black followed him. Footage taken from another camera angle appeared to capture masked individuals wearing dark clothing fleeing the scene.
Frimpong’s death deeply affected members of the Bronx’s close-knit Ghanaian community, as well as students at DreamYard Preparatory School, where he was a sophomore.
The teenager had left Ghana for the United States a year earlier to be reunited with his father, who works as a taxi driver. His murder occurred around the time he was celebrating his first anniversary of living in New York.
Frimpong’s father remembers his son as “intelligent” and “calm”. He also said the teen was bullied at DreamYard Preparatory School.
As the investigation continues, the family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them.
“A juvenile suspect has reportedly been charged in connection with the murder of Javits,” Crump said in a statement. “While these charges mark an important step toward accountability, questions remain: Why did this happen, and could it have been avoided? His family deserves answers and justice.”
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