DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro Friday announced that two teens are charged with murder as adults, after a congressional intern was killed in a Washington DC drive-by on June 30, 2025

Jalen Lucas 17, and Kelvin Thomas Jr., 17, both in custody in DC have been charged with fatally shooting Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, in a drive-by about a mile northeast of the White House

Three gunmen allegedly unloaded 79 rounds from two rifles and a 9mm handgun at a pair of “neighborhood crew” rivals riding bikes, striking bystanders including Tarpinian-Jachym, who died July 1

Police said that hundreds of hours of surveillance camera footage were reviewed and the stolen getaway vehicle has been recovered which helped in identifying the suspects

Tarpinian-Jachym, a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was interning for Rep. Ron Estes [R-Kan]

Congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym [photo], 21, died in a DC drive-by shooting on June 30. Eric who died the next day was not the intended target, police said Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., both 17, have been charged with first-degree murder in his death

DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that two teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as adults in the death of a congressional intern, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym. A third suspect in the shooting is still at large.
DC teens Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., both 17, were taken into custody and charged with fatally shooting Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, in a June 30.
The drive-by shooting happened near the Washington Convention Center, about a mile northeast of the White House. The 21-year-old senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Isenberg School of Management, was in DC interning for Rep. Ron Estes [R-Kan].
About at 10.28 PM on July 30, the three gunmen allegedly unloaded 79 rounds from two rifles and a 9mm handgun at two people riding e-bikes, said to be members of a rival “neighborhood crew” officials said, striking a one of the bike riders as well bystanders including Tarpinian-Jachym and an adult female.
The injured rival crew member, a 16-year-old male, survived same as the injured woman.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was not the intended target, but after being shot four times, died the next day, on July 1.
Police said that hundreds of hours of surveillance camera footage were reviewed to identify the suspects. Detectives said the trios were driving a car stolen in neighboring Maryland, a day prior. The vehicle was recovered in Maryland.

DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., both 17, have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym. Teens will be tried as adults, while cops continue hunt for third suspect

“Eric didn’t deserve to be gunned down, and the system failed him — the system that felt that juveniles needed to be coddled. And it’s bad enough to be gunned down on any street, but to be gunned down in our nation’s capital is an outrage,” Judge Pirro said.
“The DC 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.”
he case is being prosecuted under DC law rather than federal law, Pirro said, meaning the two suspects are not eligible for the death penalty.
Tarpinian-Jachym was shot at an intersection with a Metro station near the Washington Convention Center, a neighborhood with pockets of public housing associated with higher rates of violent crime.

Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was shot at an intersection with a Metro station near the Washington Convention Center, a neighborhood with pockets of public housing associated with higher rates of violent crime

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, [photo], a Democrat, appearing alongside the US attorney Jeanine Pirro, endorsed charging at the teenage suspects with murder as adults

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, appeared alongside the US attorney and endorsed throwing the book at the teens, who allegedly fled the shooting in a stolen car.
“I would agree with [Pirro] that cold-blooded murder qualifies as a crime that should have a 17 year old considered as an adult,” said Bowser, who this week said she welcomes an extended federal surge in DC — despite many fellow Democrats slamming Trump’s intervention.
Trump last month surged federal resources, including executive-branch agents and National Guard members, onto DC’s streets after the slaying and the subsequent Aug. 3 assault on former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine, 19.
Pirro said in her own remarks that she wants Congress to repeal locally ratified laws that stripped the power to prosecute minors from the US Attorney’s Office, transferred instead to the elected DC attorney general.

University of Massachusetts Amherst senior Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, [photo], it is believed, was present at a spot in Washington DC at the wrong time, when was gunned down in a drive-by shooting, about a mile northeast of the White House on July 1, 2025

That law also grants judges power to set aside prison sentences of people under age 24, who have been convicted yet sometimes sentenced to just probation for serious crime.  
“I am advocating, and have advocated for jurisdiction over juveniles… They need to be brought into the criminal court so that we can prosecute them, because if we do, we can prevent the murder that happened here based upon the histories of these two and the third individual that I cannot talk about,” 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.”