❓WHAT HAPPENED: Two teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as adults for the killing of a congressional intern, with a third suspect still at large.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: D.C. United States Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.), and two teenage suspects charged in the case.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The incident occurred on June 30, 2025, about a mile northeast of the White House in Washington, D.C.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Eric didn’t deserve to be gunned down, and the system failed him — the system that felt that juveniles needed to be coddled.” – Jeanine Pirro
🎯IMPACT: The case highlights concerns over juvenile crime in the nation’s capital and calls for tougher accountability measures.
Jeanine Pirro, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, has announced first-degree murder charges for two teenagers arrested in the shooting death of a congressional intern in June. According to Pirro, the teenage suspects will be tried as adults. A third suspect remains at large.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, was shot and killed on June 30 in a drive-by shooting about a mile northeast of the White House. Authorities have stated he was not the intended target of the attack. Tarpinian-Jachym and a female victim were both hit by bullets when three teenagers opened fire on two other teens believed to be riding bicycles.
“Eric didn’t deserve to be gunned down, and the system failed him—the system that felt that juveniles needed to be coddled,” Pirro stated. “It’s bad… to be gunned down on any street, but to be gunned down in our nation’s capital is an outrage.”
Tarpinian-Jachym was a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Isenberg School of Management and was working as an intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) at the time of his death. Following the deadly shooting and several other violent incidents, President Donald J. Trump moved to federalize the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployed National Guard units in an effort to restore public order. Subsequently, the city has experienced a meteoric decline in both violent and petty crime.
Pirro criticized local policies, saying, “The D.C. Council thinks that these kids need to be protected. They don’t need to be protected. They need to be made accountable, and we need to be protected… This killing underscores why we need the authority to prosecute these younger kids, because they’re not kids, they’re criminals.”
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.