A 17-year-old has been arrested on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong, who was killed on his way to school in the Bronx.

Police picked the suspect up for questioning at his Bronx home on Wednesday morning and took him to the 42nd Precinct. The NYPD is not identifying him because of his age. He faces charges of murder, manslaughter and other firearm-related offences.

Frimpong was shot in the stomach on the morning of Oct. 29.

The family speaks

At a press conference on Wednesday, Frimpong’s mother, Doris Gyamfi, who travelled from Ghana to mourn her son, broke down sobbing as she spoke.

“I need justice for my child,” Gyamfi said. “That’s all, I have only one child.”

His father, Thomas Frimpong, said he was happy to learn that someone had been charged. He was also very emotional as he described bringing his son to the United States.

“I brought Javits from Ghana to continue his education here in the United States... He was very, very, very excited,” Thomas Frimpong said. “Unfortunately, on the 29th day of October, I was at work when I heard that my son had been shot.”

Frimpong’s sister, Millicent Boateng, spoke about her brother’s ambitions.

“He wanted to be a physician. He wanted to be in the military,” she said. She also read an excerpt from his journal, in which he wrote: “School has been good since I came to the United States.”

The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said those responsible must be held to account.

“We want these, apparently, kids who murdered Javits to be held fully accountable under the law, because that is equal justice,” Crump said.

The investigation

Authorities were initially seeking three teenagers in connection with the crime and have not ruled out further arrests. Investigators said the three fled the area wearing black sweatsuits and blue surgical masks. Officials said the suspects picked up the shell casings after the shooting, which they described as showing a level of crime sophistication.

The suspects ran into the Freeman St subway station, jumped the turnstile and boarded a No. 5 train to Manhattan.

Two weeks ago, when the shooting took place, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators had strong leads.

“We’ve been in constant communication with the family, giving them updates on the status of the case. We have good images of three perpetrators entering a subway station on the five train going southbound and, pre-incident, we have video of them in Manhattan. So the case is going in the right direction,” Kenny said.

He said police were looking into bullying reports, a robbery gone bad, or a case of mistaken identity involving a rival gang member.

Bullying concerns

The killing has drawn significant attention in the community, where concerns about youth violence and bullying have intensified. Thomas Frimpong said his son had spoken about being bullied at school. Crump is seeking a full investigation by the Department of Education into what officials knew and when they knew it.

A funeral for Frimpong is scheduled for Nov. 20.

This article contains a report by ABC7 Eyewitness News.