A third teenager has been indicted in the killing of a congressional intern in the nation’s capital, a case that President Donald Trump has cited in pressing for increased federal intervention in local crime enforcement.
Prosecutors said Lucas, known by the street name “Qwan,” was also charged in a second indictment for the alleged murder of 17-year-old Zoey Kelley on July 4, whose body was found in a storage container in a Northeast Washington apartment.
Lucas was arrested on Oct. 29 in Montgomery Village, Maryland, by members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Investigators said surveillance video and witness accounts helped identify the suspects.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called the killings “predictable” and blamed what she described as the District of Columbia Council’s lenient approach to juvenile crime.
“These were predictable homicides based upon the behavior of these individuals and the records that everyone knew about, yet the D.C. Council is interested in protecting not the victims but the criminals under the guise of protecting the innocence of youth,” Pirro said in an Oct. 30 statement. “It’s time for them to start protecting the citizens of the District.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the D.C. Council for comment on Pirro’s remarks and her assertion that the Council’s policies prioritize offenders over victims, but did not receive a response by publication time.
According to police and prosecutors, Tarpinian-Jachym was walking near Mount Vernon Square when three armed suspects exited a stolen vehicle and began shooting at two young men nearby. The intern, who was not their target, was hit by four bullets and died. Five other people were assaulted or injured during the gunfire.
Two other teens—Kelvin Thomas Jr. and Jailen Lucas, Naqwan’s younger brother—were arrested on Sept. 5 and charged as adults with first-degree murder while armed. All three are being held pending a Nov. 7 court hearing.
Lucas’s indictment comes amid greater political scrutiny over youth violence in the district. During an Aug. 11 press conference, Trump cited Tarpinian-Jachym’s killing as evidence of what he called a “public safety emergency” in the capital.
“This dire public safety crisis stems directly from the abject failures of the city’s local leadership. The radical left City Council adopted no cash bail,” Trump said at the time, adding that “somebody murders somebody and they’re out on no cash bail before the day is out.”
That same day, Trump declared a public safety emergency in the district and ordered a federal law-and-order surge, deploying National Guard personnel and directing federal agencies to assist local law enforcement.
Pirro, who took office earlier this year, has repeatedly clashed with D.C. officials over juvenile sentencing and early-release programs, accusing the city’s leaders of being too soft on young criminals. She has urged Congress to amend federal law to allow prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults beginning at age 14.
“That’s terrible,” Trump said at the White House on Oct. 15. “The judge should be ashamed.”
Pirro said that the district’s policies have gone too far in protecting violent youth under the guise of rehabilitation.
“That’s why we have to lower the age of responsibility and accountability. We can have a record a mile long while we try to protect these young people under the guise that their prefrontal lobe is not developed. Enough of that,” she said at an Oct. 15 briefing. “The person who is beat to a pulp doesn’t care about the level of their prefrontal lobe, especially if they’re 15 years old.”
