Teens arrested, charged with murder of DC intern, police say

The US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, July 21, 2025. The federal government workforce in and around the nation’s capital has shrunk by about 22,100 in the year through May, a new report shows, and that number is poised to mount. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Two 17-year-olds have been arrested, and a third arrest is pending in the murder of Capitol Hill intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Both teens will be charged as adults.

Tarpinian-Jachym, who worked in Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes’ office, is thought to have been an innocent bystander walking down the street when he was fatally shot on June 30 by unidentified assailants near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

According to law enforcement officials, multiple suspects got out of a vehicle and opened fire on a group of people around 10:28 p.m. ET, striking Tarpinian-Jachym, a woman and a 16-year-old boy. The other two victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries. 

Tarpinian-Jachym told NewsNation in August her son, who was a 21-year-old rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying finance and political science, was there to learn about D.C. in hopes of pursuing a career in public service.

“He was a good kid. He looked at the world through a bright lens,” she said. “He was there to learn, and he loved DC, and he loved the people of DC.”

Northeast

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