On the morning of October 29, 2026, 15-year-old Javits Frimpong locked the apartment door behind his father the way he did every day, then stepped onto the sidewalk near Crotona Place and East 171st Street in the Bronx. Within minutes three males between 16 and 18, dressed in black and wearing blue surgical masks, approached him. Surveillance video shows Javits immediately running. One of the figures in black pursued him along the sidewalk. A single sH๏τ hit him in the abdomen. He kept running roughly another block before collapsing. Officers from the 42nd Precinct put him in a patrol car and drove him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died a short time later. Witnesses from a nearby shelter tried to stop the bleeding. Police said he was the intended target. His father, Thomas Frimpong, received a call from the school saying his son never arrived, then a second call from the principal saying he had been sH๏τ. The attack happened the day after the one-year anniversary of Javits arriving in the United States from Ghana.

Thomas, a yellow-cab driver who moved from Ghana in 2000, has described his son as quiet and reserved, a boy who stayed inside playing games on his phone rather than going outside. The three suspects fled on foot, jumped a subway turnstile, and boarded a southbound 5 train that police tracked into Manhattan. They returned to collect the shell casings before leaving. A backpack Javits dropped while running was later taken by someone else and has never been recovered. No arrests have been made. Investigators continue reviewing multiple camera angles that captured both the chase and the flight.

Family and neighbors have gathered repeatedly at the corner where he collapsed. Thomas has told reporters that his son was his only child living with him in New York and that he now feels completely alone. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark has publicly called on the suspects to surrender, warning that another person could be hurt if they stay free. The daylight attack on a residential street steps from the victim’s home has drawn intense local attention because multiple cameras recorded almost the entire sequence.

Detectives are still examining video, interviewing witnesses, and pursuing leads on the three teenage suspects. The family held its own vigil at the site. Candles, flowers, and notes remain on the sidewalk. Thomas has repeatedly said his son knew almost no one in the neighborhood and rarely went out, making the targeted nature of the attack especially difficult for the family to understand.