Young intern of GOP congressman killed in Washington D.C. shooting

Washington D.C. is home to not just the nation’s capital but also disturbingly high rates of violent crime, and is not always a safe city for tourists or the residents who live and work there, despite what local Democratic officials may say to the contrary.

On Tuesday, a young intern for a Republican congressman died from gunshot wounds he’d received in a shooting that occurred the night before, Breitbart reported.

Police are investigating the fatal incident and believe that the college student working for the summer on Capitol Hill was not the intended target of the shooter(s) but instead was tragically hit by gunfire that was meant for somebody else.

Unintended victim of gunfire

According to an update from the Metropolitan Police Department, officers responded to a shooting on 7th Street around 10:30 pm Monday and found three victims suffering from gunshot wounds, including an unconscious adult male, an adult female, and a 16-year-old male, and all three were quickly transported by first responders to a hospital.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday, the adult male — identified as 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, of Granby, Massachusetts — succumbed to his grievous injuries “after all lifesaving measures failed.”

Per an initial investigation of the incident, police believe that a group of suspects exited a vehicle at a nearby intersection and opened fire at another group of individuals, and it is believed by detectives that Tarpinian-Jachym “was not the intended target of the shooting.”

Police later recovered the vehicle used by the suspects, and the investigation remains ongoing, with a $25,000 reward offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the homicide.

Congressman remembers “kind heart” and “cheerful smile” of slain intern

A press release on Wednesday from Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) offered “prayers and deepest condolences” to the family of Tarpinian-Jachym in the wake of the tragic incident involving the young man who was set to begin his senior year at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the fall.

Sadly, the Kansas congressman revealed that the young man had just begun working as an intern in his office on Capitol Hill last month.

“I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile,” Estes said in a statement on behalf of himself and his wife. “We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas’ 4th District and the country. Please join Susan and me in praying for his family and respecting their privacy during this heartbreaking time.”

Victim had been “excited to make a difference”

According to Boston’s ABC affiliate WCVB, Tarpinian-Jachym was studying finance and politics at UMass-Amherst and had just begun his service as a congressional intern on Capitol Hill during the summer break before his senior year.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) told the outlet of the young student, “As a lecturer at UMass, I know firsthand the caliber of students who walk through those doors. Eric embodied what it means to be part of a community committed to learning, growth, and civic engagement.”

Phillip Peterson, a friend of the victim, told WCVB, “Eric Jachym was one of the few good, kind-hearted, honest, moral, trustworthy people in Washington, D.C., and he’s excited to make a difference. He just legitimately wanted to make positive change, and that’s why he went to go intern on Capitol Hill.”

Peterson also spoke to local D.C. Fox affiliate WTTG about the tragic murder of his friend and said, “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.”

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