A mother in Ghana who has been grieving from thousands of miles away will now be able to travel to New York to say goodbye to her 15-year-old son in person. On Saturday, October 31, New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced that President Donald Trump had agreed, in a direct telephone conversation between the two men, to grant her a United States visa immediately. It is a major new development in the case Awaaz Punjab reported on Thursday, when the boy was shot dead on his way to school in the Claremont section of the Bronx.
Mayor Mamdani announced the decision in a post on X on Saturday. "The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away," he wrote, adding that the boy's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person and that all of New York City is mourning this tragedy. The mayor's post is the primary source for the visa agreement; the White House had not issued a separate statement in the reporting available on Saturday.
Ghana will pay for the journey
Hours later, Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced that the Ghanaian government would cover the full cost of the mother's travel to New York, so she can attend her son's funeral and pay her last respects, MyJoyOnline reported. Minister Ablakwa said he had personally spoken with the mother on Friday, October 30, had directed officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist her through the visa process, and described her grief as unimaginable. He said it was important for her to be physically present to say goodbye, and that the administration of President John Mahama would also contribute towards giving the teenager a dignified funeral and would continue to cooperate in the effort to secure justice for him.
Thanking the mayor directly on X, Mr Ablakwa wrote: "This is most appreciated... We have always known we can count on our own Kwame Mamdani" — a reference to Mayor Mamdani's Ghanaian heritage, Chale News reported. Ghana's Ambassador to the United States, Victor Emmanuel Smith, has also called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the killing, citing the reports of bullying, and officials from Ghana's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York have visited the family.
What happened on Thursday
The teenager, a 10th-grade student at DreamYard Preparatory School, was shot in the abdomen shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, while walking to school near East 171st Street and Crotona Place in the Claremont neighbourhood of the Bronx. Responding New York Police Department officers took him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died of his injuries. He had moved from Ghana to the United States in 2025 to live with his father, who works as a yellow cab driver in New York. His mother remained in Ghana, in Kumasi, and had been unable to travel for the funeral until Saturday's visa breakthrough.
The police investigation — and an allegation police have not confirmed
The New York Police Department is investigating the shooting and is searching for up to three male suspects believed to be teenagers. No arrests had been announced as of Saturday, October 31, and police have not established a motive. The boy's father has told reporters he suspects the shooting may be connected to bullying at school, saying the school principal had previously informed him of an incident in which two students allegedly harassed his son and were subsequently suspended. That is the father's allegation: investigators have not confirmed any link between the reported bullying and the killing, and the father has appealed to whoever carried out the shooting to turn themselves in to police.
A community in mourning
On Friday, October 30, members of the Black and Ghanaian communities in the Bronx held a candlelight vigil and a march at the place where the teenager fell, leaving flowers and candles and calling for justice. For immigrant families in New York — including the Punjabi diaspora families who read this site — the case has become a stark reminder of how far apart a family can be when tragedy strikes, and of how much can turn on a single visa decision made in a single phone call.
The mother is expected to travel to New York in the coming days, once the visa agreed on Saturday is issued, to join her husband and attend her son's funeral arrangements. Ghana's foreign ministry says its officials are assisting her through the process. In the Bronx, the NYPD investigation continues, with no arrests announced and no motive confirmed.
Read Awaaz Punjab's original report of Thursday's shooting in the Bronx. Boy, 15, shot dead on his way to school in the Bronx