Two Teens Arrested in Murder of Republican Congressional Intern
Two 17-year-old teens, Jailen Lucas adn Kelvin Thomas Jr., have been arrested and charged as adults with first-degree murder in connection with the June fatal shooting of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old congressional intern from Capitol Hill. The shooting occurred in Washington, D.C., when three suspects exited a stolen car and opened fire on two young men riding bicycles from a rival neighborhood; though Eric was not the intended target, he was fatally wounded and later died at the hospital. A third suspect remains at large. Eric was a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and interned for Kansas Republican rep. Ron Estes. His family and friends have called for increased police support in D.C. to prevent further violence, while his mother expressed hope that recent crime crackdowns will help stop more innocent victims.
Two teens were arrested for allegedly murdering a Capitol Hill intern in June, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Friday.
Although both are 17 years old, Jailen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr. were charged as adults with first-degree murder while armed, Pirro said at a Washington, D.C. news conference.
A third suspect is still at large.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro (@USAttyPirro) on arrests made in killing of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachy: “Two individuals have been arrested and this is a critical step toward justice, but our work is not done as we continue to seek a third suspect in this case.” pic.twitter.com/pBWwbnnPKg
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 5, 2025
“Eric didn’t deserve to be gunned down, and the system failed him, the system that felt that juveniles needed to be coddled,” Pirro said.
On June 30, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, was shot to death in D.C., according to WTTG-TV.
Three suspects had exited a stolen car and started shooting at two young men on bicycles, according to a Friday news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The men on bikes were reportedly from an “opposition neighborhood.”
Although the bullets weren’t meant for him, Tarpinian-Jachym was fatally hit. He later died at the hospital, according to WTTG-TV.
A woman and her 16-year-old son were also hit but survived.
“Eric was a good, smart Republican. Quite frankly, somebody in Congress should introduce a bill called the Eric Jachym Act that works on increasing police support in D.C, and Congress can do that,” friend Phillip Petersen told WTTG-TV.
JUST IN: 21 year-old UMass Amherst student & Congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym murdered in Northwest DC shooting. Police do not believe he was the intended target.https://t.co/sYHlv6JV2p https://t.co/PMQhNJ2r2a pic.twitter.com/Fov1JWnhXW
— The DMV Live (@TheDMVLive) July 2, 2025
Tarpinian-Jachym had been interning with Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes.
“I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile. We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas’ 4th District and the country,” Estes said.
Tarpinian-Jachym was a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was majoring in finance and minoring in political science, according to The Washington Post.
“Eric, you didn’t die in vain,” his mother, Tamara, said. “If we would’ve known the city was so dangerous, we wouldn’t have let him go.”
But President Donald Trump’s D.C. crime crackdown has given her hope, the Post reported.
“Hope that my son won’t just be a statistic. And hope that these changes will mean no other innocent people will get shot,” she said.
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