MAMDANI SAYS TRUMP AGREES TO GRANT VISA TO MOTHER OF SLAIN TEEN

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday that he had persuaded President Donald Trump, in a phone call, to grant a visa allowing the mother of Javits Frimpong, 15, to travel from Ghana to New York after her son was shot dead in the Bronx on Thursday. "The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away," Mamdani wrote on X. "Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person," he added, saying Trump had agreed to grant her visa immediately. The White House did not immediately confirm the arrangement.

Police said Frimpong was shot in the abdomen at around 9:25am on Thursday while walking to school in the Claremont neighbourhood of the Bronx. He was initially reported in stable condition but died later that day in hospital. No arrests have been made and police have not named a suspect or disclosed a motive. Frimpong had moved to the Bronx from Ghana a year earlier to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong, according to US Representative Ritchie Torres. Thomas Frimpong told reporters he believed the shooting was linked to bullying his son had faced at school.

Torres said every child in the Bronx deserves to walk to school without fearing for their life. Ghana's foreign minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, said Ghanaian officials in New York were coordinating with local authorities to help secure justice. The visa agreement follows the Trump administration's suspension of visa processing from 75 countries during his second term. The investigation into Frimpong's death continues, with no date given for his mother's arrival in New York.