A Republican intern on Capitol Hill was tragically killed in a shooting on Monday night in northwestern D.C.
21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was caught in the crossfire of a deadly "altercation" after 10 p.m., Metropolitan Police said.
The college senior had recently joined the staff of Kansas Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican, who released a statement sharing his condolences.
"I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile," Estes said in a press release. "We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas' 4th District and the country."
According to police chief Pamela Smith, the incident began as an "altercation" between two groups of people. The shooting was targeted, but Tarpinian-Jachym was not one of the intended victims.
On Monday, around 10:28 p.m., police responded to gunshots in the 1200 block of 7th Street, Northwest. They found three injured individuals: Tarpinian-Jachym, an adult female, and a 16-year-old male.
"The preliminary investigation indicates that multiple suspects exited a vehicle at the intersection of 7th and M Street, Northwest and began firing at a group. The suspect vehicle has been recovered," Metropolitan Police said in a press release.
Tarpinian-Jachym was brought to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries Tuesday. The unidentified woman is in stable condition, and the teenager is still being treated for injuries to his spine.
Police say the teenage boy was likely involved in the confrontation that led to the shooting.
"The child, I can say, we believe was kind of engaged as part of the group," police chief Pamela Smith said at a press conference Thursday.
According to the latest data, crime in D.C. is declining compared to 2023, when the city had its most homicides in over a decade.
The 2020s crime wave placed public officials in danger, including Democratic Rep. Angie Craig (MN), who was assaulted in her apartment lobby, and Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX), who had his car stolen at gunpoint. A former Trump official was murdered during a carjacking spree in 2024.
In May, a young couple who worked for Israel's embassy was assassinated by an extremist outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
Tarpinian-Jachym, of Gramby, Massachusetts, was a senior at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he majored in finance with a minor in political science. He had only just begun a summer internship at Rep. Estes' office.
What a senseless tragedy.
