Family of slain congressional intern experiences dark side of the nation’s capital

Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym struggles to understand how her son Eric lost his life in a random act of violence in the District, a city the young man had come to love during his internship on Capitol Hill.

The fact she finds hardest to fathom is that Eric was gunned down late last month in a wild shooting just a few blocks from one of the nation’s most secure buildings.

“I cannot believe this happened less than a mile away from the White House,” Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym told The Washington Times. “I saw a man on TV, a witness, who said it was horrific. He threw himself off his wheelchair, covered his head and prayed that the bullets would stop.”

The Tarpinian-Jachym family laid Eric to rest last week near their home in Granby, Massachusetts. His former high school classmates, the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where Eric was a rising senior, and the wife of Rep. Ron Estes, for whom he interned, paid their respects and recalled his warmth.

“The loss of Eric will be felt for a long time. We will never forget his presence and kindness in my office,” Mr. Estes, Kansas Republican, said last week during a House floor speech. “May he rest in peace.”

Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said a “beautiful” letter from President Trump and first lady Melania Trump was read aloud during the funeral Thursday for her 21-year-old child, her youngest.

She said the family became fond of the District because of how much Eric adored the nation’s capital, but his slaying three weeks ago opened a wound they don’t expect to heal.

“I just loved D.C. when I was there, and now I don’t think I can ever go back,” said Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym, 62. “We were supposed to go July 30 … and have a couple days’ stay at the Wharf. That was going to be our little vacation and to see Eric. But instead, I saw Eric in a coffin.”

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said Eric was near the Mount Vernon Square Metro station on June 30 when gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire on a group of people. Eric was the only person to be mortally wounded. He died July 1 in a hospital.

A woman and a 16-year-old boy were injured. Authorities said the wounded boy was a member of the group targeted by the gunmen.

No arrests have been made in the shooting.

Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym expressed gratitude that the FBI increased its tip line reward to $40,000 and joined the investigation, but she said she was frustrated by the amount of sleuthing it took for her to learn her son’s fate.

She said her concerns started July 1 when her daughter received a call from Capitol Hill because Eric had not shown up for work that morning.

After contacting her son’s friend in the area, she discovered that his phone was pinging inside a D.C. police station.

Her mind raced frantically: Maybe Eric had a few too many drinks with friends? Maybe his phone was stolen and recovered by police? Then she worried that Eric, who had asthma and a heart condition, might have suffered a medical event amid the summer’s humidity.

She called the police station and asked about Eric, but the staffer said no one with that name was in the building.

Her daughter later shared the news about a man being killed in a triple shooting in the District. Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said she didn’t think police would refer to her boyish-looking son as a man, but uncertainty gnawed at her. The family flew to the District the next day.

Early on July 2, Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym thought Eric could have been wounded in the shooting and was fighting for his life in an ICU. It wasn’t until a detective said police were waiting for fingerprint results from the phone that her nightmare became real.

“I don’t know how he was shot. Was his back facing them, didn’t have a chance? I don’t know. Was he turning to walk into the Metro? I don’t know. Was he standing looking at his phone? I don’t know,” Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said. “I don’t know any of it, and that’s the worst part.”

Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said she felt safe when she visited the city in April. That didn’t stop her from urging Eric to be vigilant. She said he grew up near two shooting ranges and was familiar with the pop of gunfire.

She said she reminded her son to be on alert last month when authorities were on guard for a potential retaliatory attack after the U.S. military bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.

Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym delved into the District’s public safety news after the shooting. She wondered why city police were short-staffed and criticized Mayor Muriel Bowser for talking about a decrease in crime when Eric and a 3-year-old girl were fatally shot within a week of each other.

Still, she acknowledged that the kind of violence and disorder that killed her son is not exclusive to the District.

As an occupational therapist in Springfield, Massachusetts, she said, she has seen an increase in open drug use and aggressive vagrants on her way to visit patients.

She said this acceptance of brazen degeneracy and its consequences originated with President Biden.

“I blame Biden. I blame Kamala Harris, I do,” Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said. “They just let chaos run when George Floyd [died], and it just didn’t stop.”

Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym wants her son to be remembered as a man who didn’t let his limitations define him. On top of health issues, Eric suffered from dyslexia. His mother said he poured himself into his education and worked hard to avoid falling behind.

To get his internship on Capitol Hill, Eric knocked on the door of every member of Congress he could, Republican and Democrat, Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said. He connected with a staffer in Mr. Estes’ office and began working for the Kansan last month.

The internship deepened his love of the District. Whether it was walking around the city, riding the Metro, running out for ice cream or getting chicken nuggets from a 24/7 McDonald’s, Eric was drawn to the District’s fast pace and lively feel, his mother said.

Now she wants investigators to find the shooters so she can have closure.

“A humble, kind soul who did not care where you came from, what your background was — rich, poor, working class, Black, White or brown — he treated people with respect,” Mrs. Tarpinian-Jachym said. “And he really loved life. Even though he had challenges in his life, he overcame those challenges to become the young man that he was.”