BRONX, New York — A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed on Thursday morning, October 29, while walking near his school in the Claremont section of the Bronx, the New York Police Department said. The boy was shot once in the abdomen just before 9:30 a.m. near East 171st Street and Crotona Place, about a block from Crotona Park. In line with this newsroom's policy, a minor victim is identified here by age and city only.

Source: CBS News New York

Officers who responded found the teenager wounded and drove him to St. Barnabas Hospital in a police vehicle rather than waiting for an ambulance, according to police accounts reported by CBS News New York and FOX 5 NY. Early reports said he was at first listed in stable condition; his condition then deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at the hospital, about two hours after the shooting, according to the later reports. One account, citing police, said he had managed to run about a block from where he was shot before collapsing.

Source: FOX 5 NY

The shooting happened on a residential street around the corner from the apartment the boy shared with his father, on a school-morning route steps from local schools and from the green space of Crotona Park. Police said it was not yet clear what led up to the gunfire, and investigators had not announced any arrest by Thursday evening.

A father who brought his son to New York a year ago

The boy's father, 60, a taxi driver, told CBS News New York by phone from the hospital that his son had come to the United States from Ghana about a year ago to join him in New York, hoping for better opportunities; the boy's mother remains in Ghana, according to the father's interviews with CBS and News 12. “It's not easy for me. It's not easy for me. He's my everything. I'm here with him alone,” the father said. He said he learned of the shooting from the principal of his son's school, who called him, and that his last conversation with his son that morning had been a reminder to get to school on time.

The bullying account — and what police have not said

The father also said — and this remains his account, which police have not confirmed as a motive — that his son had complained of being bullied, including at lunch, and had reported it several times. He told CBS and News 12 that the school principal had contacted him a few days before the shooting about an incident in which two boys fought with his son, and that the two boys were suspended; he said school officials told him his son was not the aggressor. CBS News New York said it reached out to the school and to the New York City Department of Education about the father's account, but neither had responded at the time of its report. Police, for their part, said plainly that it is unclear what led up to the shooting, and no link between any school dispute and the killing has been established by investigators.

The search for three suspects

Police said they are looking for three teenage boys, believed to be between 16 and 18 years old, who were last seen wearing all-black clothing and blue surgical masks. Reports citing investigators said the three fled south on Fulton Avenue, toward Crotona Park, after the shooting. No arrests had been made as of Thursday evening, and police had not publicly identified any suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or, for Spanish speakers, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can be given anonymously.

What happens next

The investigation is continuing, and the next developments to watch are whether police identify or arrest the three teenagers they are seeking, whether the school and the Department of Education respond to the father's bullying account, and whether investigators establish a motive — none of which had happened by Thursday night. For immigrant families in New York, including the many Punjabi and other South Asian parents who send children to city schools, the case lands hard for a plain reason the father himself gave: he brought his son across the world a year ago for opportunity and safety, and lost him on an ordinary walk to school, minutes from home.