A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Ghanaian teenager Javits Frimpong, who was killed while walking to school in the Bronx, New York.
The New York Daily News reported on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, that the suspect was being held at an NYPD station in the 42nd Precinct, with charges pending.
It was not immediately clear whether the teenager was the alleged gunman or an accomplice in the October 29 killing.
Frimpong was shot in the abdomen at about 9:24 a.m. on Crotona Place, near East 171st Street, a block from his home in the Mott Haven neighbourhood. He was on his way to DreamYard Preparatory School when he was attacked.
Surveillance footage reportedly shows three hooded attackers wearing surgical masks chasing him along the street before one of them opened fire.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the attackers shot Frimpong in the back and later picked up the shell casings in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence.
“All three gave chase,” Kenny said last week. “And these cowards shot him in the back. If their intention was to rob him, he dropped his backpack.”
He said the attackers’ removal of the shell casings suggested that the shooting had been planned.
Investigators believe the suspects had been in Crotona Park before the shooting and fled to Manhattan afterwards. Surveillance footage reportedly captured them jumping a turnstile at Freeman Street station before boarding a No. 5 train.
Frimpong was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he underwent surgery, but died shortly afterwards.
His killing has devastated members of the Ghanaian immigrant community in New York and renewed concerns about bullying in city schools.
His father, identified in the report as Thomas Frimprong, told detectives that two fellow students had recently been suspended for bullying his son.
Kenny, however, said investigators had not established whether the alleged bullying was connected to the killing.
“It’s one aspect we’re looking at, as well as others,” he said.
Police are also investigating whether Frimpong knew his attackers or had any prior connection with them.
