2 Teens Arrested in June Killing of Congressional Intern in DC, US Attorney Says

The suspects, both 17, will be tried as adults, says U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks at a press conference announcing arrests in the murder of Congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington on Sept. 5, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Two teenaged suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of a congressional intern in Washington in June, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced on Friday.

The intern, 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian Jachym, was shot near a DC metro station, and officials have said he likely was not the intended target.

The suspects, identified as Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., both 17, have been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as adults, Pirro said in a news conference alongside Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith. She added that officials are still looking for a third suspect.

Jachym, a University of Massachusetts–Amherst student, was an intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.). He died after being caught in a shooting on June 30 in the Northwest quadrant of Washington. A woman and a 16-year-old were injured in the shooting, officials said.

“[Jachym] was an innocent bystander who was caught in a violent act that was not meant for him,” Pirro said at the press conference. “His death is a stark reminder of how fragile life is and how violence too often visits us in the nation’s capital.”

She said more charges against the suspects are expected after the cases are presented to a grand jury.

At the time of Jachym’s death, Estes released a statement on the floor of the House that the intern was a “rising senior” at the university whose “life was tragically cut short by a senseless act of violence in our nation’s capital,” noting that he “was an innocent bystander who was gunned down as he walked down the street less than one mile from the White House.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi responded to the arrests on Friday in a post on social media, thanking the FBI for helping catch the two teenage suspects. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a social media post that “justice was delivered” by his bureau and the Justice Department in the case.

Also in Friday’s press conference, Pirro called on Congress to “change the law” and claimed that the Council of the District of Columbia has “coddled young criminals for years” because they “reject mandatory minimums that the law requires.”

“They have something called the youth rehabilitation and the incarceration reduction, as well as record sealing. Everything we do, the DC Council is looking to change to benefit the criminal,” Pirro said.

“We’re going to need Congress to change the law, and I believe that if there’s any case that calls for it, it is this case, that makes it clear that these young punks who are on the street with guns, shooting at each other, killing innocent people, they need to be brought into my system and not in the family court system for rehabilitation. Because they’ve been in that system more than once, and I don’t think they’ve been rehabilitated.”

Pirro’s comments come as the Trump administration earlier this summer sent in the National Guard and more federal assets to crack down on crime in Washington.