Pirro Announces Third Suspect Charged for Republican Intern’s Murder

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., have arrested a third suspect in the June killing of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, officials confirmed Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro identified the suspect as 18-year-old Naqwan Lucas, who is accused of participating in the June 30 shooting that killed Tarpinian-Jachym and 22-year-old Zoey Kelley. Two other suspects, Kelvin Thomas Jr. and Jailen Lucas, were previously charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities said the shooting occurred at approximately 10:28 p.m. near the 1200 block of 7th Street Northwest, when multiple suspects exited a vehicle and opened fire. Tarpinian-Jachym, an adult female, and a 16-year-old male were struck. The congressional intern died of his injuries the following day.

Investigators said the attack was targeted, but that Tarpinian-Jachym was not the intended victim.

Advertisement
Pirro confirmed that all three suspects were known to the D.C. juvenile court system and criticized the city’s leadership for what she described as inadequate accountability for violent offenders.

“We live in a district where all three of these juveniles that I just mentioned are known to the juvenile court,” Pirro said. “That’s all I’m gonna say. I can’t say more, and I want to.”

Pirro added that the victims’ deaths were preventable and accused the D.C. Council of prioritizing leniency over public safety.

“Two innocent souls were taken from us in what I believe were predictable homicides based on the behavior of these individuals and the records that everyone knew about,” Pirro said. “But the D.C. Council is more interested in protecting young criminals under the guise of protecting the innocence of youth. It’s time for them to start protecting the citizens of the district, because this is what we’re ending up with.”