Parliament will support family of Ghanaian teen killed in New York – Vanderpuije assures

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma South and Chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, has assured that Parliament will stand with the family of 15-year-old Ghanaian, Javits Frimpong, who was fatally shot in the Bronx, New York, while walking to school.

Speaking to Starr News on Monday, November 2, 2026, Vanderpuije said the lawmakers would upon resumption deliberate on the tragedy before offering full support for a befitting burial and ensuring the boy’s mother is properly cared for and comforted.

“Tomorrow we will resume in parliament. We will sit down, we will look at it and then we will support the process to give him a befitting burial and then make sure the mother is well taken care of and comfortable with the situation,” he said.

He added that legal processes would follow once those immediate needs are addressed.

Vanderpuije stressed that nothing should be swept under the carpet and that every step must be taken to secure justice for the teenager.

“Then the matters of legal issues, I think will kick in after that. And in that point, I think we will work together to ensure that nothing is swept under the rug. And then make sure also that there is no step that will be overlooked. We have to make sure that we get to the justifiable point making sure that we have justice served for our young boy,” he said.

Drawing on his own experience, Vanderpuije noted that he lived in the United States for 30 years and served as a high school principal. He observed that bullying can exist in such school environments.

Javits Frimpong, a tenth-grader who had moved from Ghana to join his father, Thomas Frimpong, about a year earlier, was shot in the abdomen on the morning of 29 October 2026 near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Bronx.

He was on his way to DreamYard Preparatory School when three masked attackers ambushed him. He later died at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Police are searching for three teenage suspects. The boy’s father has linked the attack to alleged bullying at school, saying two students had recently been suspended after incidents involving his son.

Ghana’s government has condemned the killing and pledged to pursue justice in cooperation with US authorities.

President Donald Trump has agreed to grant an immediate visa to the boy’s mother so she can travel from Ghana to say goodbye to her son.