Thomas Frimpong, 60, a longtime New York taxi driver who had lived in the city since around 2000, last saw his son on the morning of October 29 when he left for work. They shared one key; the father would wake 15-year-old Javits Frimpong so the door could be locked. Later that morning the school called to say the boy had not arrived, then the principal called to report that he had been sH๏τ. Frimpong raced to St. Barnabas Hospital. He later told reporters that his son was quiet, clever, and not someone who mixed with trouble.

He said the principal had informed him days earlier that two students had been suspended for bullying or fighting with Javits. The father believes those incidents may be connected to the killing, although he has also said his son did not know many people in New York. Police have asked about any known problems; Frimpong answered that his son did not know anybody here. At a vigil on October 30 near 171st Street and Claremont Avenue, community members, religious leaders, and local officials gathered. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark urged the three suspects to turn themselves in before they harmed anyone else.

Students at DreamYard Preparatory School held a walkout on November 2, chanting Frimpong’s name and carrying signs against bullying and gun violence. Classmates described him as someone who tried to make others laugh and who had been on the basketball court with them the day before. One friend said nothing could have prepared him for what happened the next morning. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny has confirmed that investigators are seeking school records related to the reported bullying through a subpoena because the Department of Education will not release them otherwise.

The same chief has listed robbery and mistaken idenтιтy as alternative lines of inquiry. No arrests have been announced. The father continues to grieve in the apartment where his only child in New York had lived for one year, while the corner where the shooting occurred remains a site of flowers, candles, and questions about what exactly unfolded in those final minutes.