Cardi B is feeling what every New Yorker, and especially every parent, is feeling right now after watching the heartbreaking clips of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong’s final moments.
As we previously reported, Javits was shot and killed on his way to school in the Bronx on Thursday morning, October 29, 2026, around 9:30 a.m. near East 171st Street and Crotona Place, close to Crotona Park. Officers found him shot once in the abdomen and drove him in their patrol car to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. In the footage circulating online, he can be seen running roughly a block before he collapses. Investigators are searching for three teenage boys in connection with the shooting. As of Friday afternoon, there had been no arrests.
Cardi hopped on live to get a few things off her chest while reflecting on her own upbringing in New York. She didn’t hold back, saying, “What happened to Javits is the reason why I would never raise a kid in the Bronx.” Speaking from experience, the Bronx native said kids can be cruel, and that trouble can find you even when you’re minding your own business.
She encouraged parents to get their finances together and, if they have to, raise their children somewhere like Pennsylvania. Then she closed with a message aimed squarely at the grown folks: “Teach your kids to be f—g kind because it starts with you.”
Cardi B speaks on Javits Frimpong , the 15 year old Ghanaian that was k1lled by his bullies in Bronx New York . She grew up in Bronx and shared her experience and says she will never raise a kid there . 💔 https://t.co/soikMaqMsk— Mary Luchies (@MaryLuchies) October 31, 2026
Behind the viral clips is a family that is completely is shattered. Javits’ father, Thomas Frimpong, a 60-year-old yellow cab driver, moved to New York from Ghana in 2000, and Javits followed him last year to live with him. Frimpong says he brought his son here chasing a better life. The school called him that morning to say Javits hadn’t shown up, and soon after, the principal called to say he had been shot. The last thing he told his son before they parted, he recalled, was to make sure he got to school on time.
Frimpong described Javits as quiet, someone who kept to himself and rarely spent time outside the house. “My son was precious, very clever,” he told ABC7 New York. He said that whenever he came home, Javits would come downstairs to open the door for him. That small detail says plenty about the kind of kid he was.
The father also believes bullying is at the center of this tragedy. He says the principal told him just three days before the shooting that two students had been suspended for a week for bullying Javits. “That is what the principal told me,” he said at the scene on Thursday evening. He also said the principal told him his son was innocent and had been defending himself.
Frimpong says he believes he knows who is responsible, but police have not confirmed any connection between the bullying and the shooting, and he says detectives haven’t told him whether they have any suspects. Javits’ mother, who still lives in Ghana, was called with the devastating news.
The community has already rallied. Two prayer vigils were held Friday evening at the spot where Javits fell, and a memorial there keeps growing. The city’s Department of Education said it is offering counseling and support to students, families and staff while assisting the NYPD with the investigation.