On the morning of October 29, 2026, 15-year-old Javits Badu Nkansah Frimpong left his home in the Claremont section of the Bronx for the short walk to DreamYard Preparatory School. He never made it. Around 9:24 a.m., near East 171st Street and Crotona Place by Crotona Park, three masked teenagers ambushed him. Surveillance footage captured the chase: Javits running for his life, pursued by someone in black, before collapsing after a short distance with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Officers transported him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Javits had arrived from Ghana in 2025 to live with his father, Thomas Frimpong, a cab driver, in hopes of a better life. His mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, remained in Ghana. Described as quiet and dedicated, the tenth-grader kept mostly to himself, left his phone at home to focus on schoolwork, and wrote in his diary about his determination to succeed in America and become a physician. “I am doing good on my journey and figuring out who I am,” he had written. The day before he was killed marked roughly the one-year anniversary of his new life in the U.S.
School, Bullying Claims, and the Investigation
Thomas Frimpong has said school officials, including the principal at DreamYard Preparatory School, informed him days earlier that two students had been suspended after bullying or fighting involving his son. Javits reportedly told his father that one boy kept harassing him at lunch; the principal reportedly assured the father that Javits was not at fault and had been defending himself. The father believes the shooting was retaliation. A school bus attendant also referenced the suspensions.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny confirmed investigators are examining bullying as one possible motive while seeking school records (requiring a subpoena). Other lines of inquiry include a robbery gone wrong or mistaken identity. Police describe three teenage suspects (roughly 16–18) in black tracksuits or clothing and blue surgical masks. They had been in the park beforehand, chased Javits, shot him in the back, retrieved shell casings, and fled via subway (southbound 5 train) toward Manhattan. Javits dropped his backpack, which was later stolen and not recovered. No arrests have been made as of early November; the case remains open. The NYC Department of Education has offered condolences, counseling supports, and cooperation with the investigation.
Students at DreamYard staged a walkout on November 2, chanting Javits’s name, holding signs against bullying and gun violence, and sharing memories of a respectful, friendly classmate who joined them for lunch and tried to make people smile. Classmates pushed back against any notion that he was isolated.
Community Response and a Painful Echo
The Bronx and the Ghanaian community responded with vigils, prayer gatherings, candles, flowers, and balloons. Thomas Frimpong sobbed at the scene as mourners and officials gathered. Ghanaian leaders condemned the killing and offered support; Mayor Zohran Mamdani helped secure an emergency visa so Javits’s mother could travel from Ghana to mourn in person (facilitated after contact with President Trump). Bronx DA Darcel Clark urged the suspects to surrender. Rallies and memorials continued in the following days, with calls for justice and attention to youth safety.
Among those who stood with the family was Leandra Feliz, mother of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz. In June 2018, 15-year-old Junior—an NYPD Explorer with no gang ties, aspiring to law enforcement—was chased, dragged from a Belmont bodega, and stabbed to death with knives and a machete by Trinitarios gang members who mistook him for a rival. Graphic video of the attack sparked widespread outrage; multiple people were convicted. Feliz, a longtime anti-violence advocate who has worn “Forever 15” shirts and pushed for safety reforms, attended vigils for Javits. She said she came to show support because “here we are again, another child of 15-years-old lost,” offering the family strength and the reminder that only God can help them live day by day with the pain.
Both boys were 15, both died violently in the Bronx while simply trying to live their lives—one an immigrant with medical dreams, the other a local teen with policing dreams—and both left families and communities grappling with the same questions about youth violence, whether driven by bullying, gangs, or senseless targeting.
As of early November 2026, the investigation continues. The backpack is missing, the suspects remain at large, and the precise motive is unconfirmed. What is clear is the loss of a quiet, studious boy who wrote about family as treasure and hoped America would give him a chance. The community’s response—walkouts at his school, vigils linking one mother’s grief to another’s, and demands for accountability—underscores both the grief and the determination not to let these stories fade.
We pray for young Levits' soul and for his family. May he rest in peace.
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