A rather tragic way to die; being killed by the bullet of a colleague cop while checking it out. This was the unfortunate end of rookie Bronx cop, Frederick Afoakwah who died Sunday after a gun which had been set by his friend who he was playing games with, accidentally went off and ended his life.
Frederick Afoakwah who hails from Ghana was expected to be best man of Housing Bureau Officer Martinson Afari Yeboah whose wedding was three weeks after the tragic incident. He unfortunately however fired a bullet into his neck when he attempted ‘inspecting’ the gun which had been set on the table by his friend Yeboah in his (Afoakwah’s) apartment.
The shooting happened about 5:30 am Sunday shortly after the two had met to play video games as usual. Yeboah who lives on the same floor was off duty and joined his friend at his high-rise apartment on Mosholu Parkway near Jerome Avenue during a pre-dawn session of Fifa Soccer Sunday according to police sources and the victim’s father.
“I came out and I saw my son laying on the floor…There was blood all over the rug and the sofa,” said Afoakwah’s heartbroken father, Ransford Afoakwah, 55. “He wasn’t speaking.”
He further explained that he died shortly after he was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital.
Not long before the gun went off, Ransford Afoakwah had urged his son to turn off the video game and go to bed because the family had plans to go to an early Easter mass, he said.
“I woke up and I saw them playing still and I said, ‘Why don’t you go to bed?” he said. “After that, I heard the noise from the gun pop.”
As his son bled profusely, he tried to perform CPR to no avail.
Yeboah was taken into custody after the shooting. While at the precinct, he asked his uncle to go to the hospital to find out whether his best friend had survived.
“And then the uncle told him unfortunately he passed,” Yeboah said. “He could not understand. He had to tell him six times before it sunk in.”
“They are best of friends.” said Joyce Yeboah, 54, Frederick Afoakwah’s devastated aunt.
Afoakwah, 21, lived with his parents and a cousin and attended Borough of Manhattan Community College. He started studying criminal justice, inspired by Yeboah’s budding NYPD career.
“He encouraged Fred to take that subject,” Afoakwah’s dad, Ransford Afoakwah, 54, said. Both families hail from Ghana and are tightly knit
“We are family, one family,” said Joyce Yeboah. “Their doors are always ajar…. [Martinson Yeboah’s] mother is a Deaconess in our church.”
Afoakwah and Yeboah met when the former moved into the building with his family in 2013, and they’ve been inseparable since. They shopped for clothes together, and attended the Church of Pentecost on 216th St. and Bronx Blvd. on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Afoakwah’s father said he’s not angry at Yeboah.
“Martinson is a good guy, he’s a respectful guy,” he said. “I don’t see him ever talking to people, shouting or fighting — I never see it…. If someone is your enemy you’re not going to ask them to be your best man.” Afoakwah said.
