Two teenagers charged as adults in the fatal shooting of a congressional intern in Washington, D.C., have been linked to the crime by DNA found on shell casings recovered at the scene, government attorneys told a Superior Court judge during a status hearing Friday. The disclosure marks a significant step in the prosecution of a case that shook Capitol Hill last summer.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old University of Massachusetts Amherst student spending the summer as an intern for Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes, was gunned down near the intersection of 7th and M Street NW on June 30, 2025. He was struck four times. He died the following day.
Prosecutors told Judge Danya Dayson that testing on the shell casings produced what they called an "overwhelming statistical match" to defendant Jailen Lucas, Fox News Digital reported. DNA evidence also ties co-defendant Kelvin Thomas to the shooting, the government attorneys said. Both Lucas and Thomas were 17 at the time of the killing.
They are each charged as adults with first-degree murder while armed. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 15, and the trial is expected to begin in February.
Authorities said three armed suspects exited a stolen vehicle and opened fire at two individuals in the area that night. Tarpinian-Jachym, from Granby, Massachusetts, was one of those hit. A rising senior at UMass Amherst, he had come to Washington to serve his country through public service, only to be cut down blocks from the halls of power he hoped to work in.
Rep. Estes described the young man he had welcomed into his office. "He was a dedicated and thoughtful and kind person who loved our country," Estes said.
Lucas and Thomas were arrested on September 5. A third suspect, 18-year-old Naqwan Antonio Lucas of the District of Columbia, was arrested weeks later in Montgomery Village on October 31 and also charged in Tarpinian-Jachym's murder.
The case drew attention not only because of the victim's connection to Congress but because it laid bare the violent reality on the streets of the nation's capital. When lawmakers and their staff cannot walk safely through downtown Washington, the failure belongs to those responsible for keeping order in the city.
Attorney General Pam Bondi weighed in on the case, saying the suspects "will face severe justice" if convicted. That kind of direct statement from the top federal law enforcement official signals how seriously the administration views the prosecution.
Prosecutors told the court that two rounds of DNA testing have been completed. Expert testimony on three categories of evidence, DNA analysis, ballistics, and fingerprint evidence, is expected at trial, the New York Post reported. The combination suggests investigators built a layered forensic case rather than relying on a single thread.
The Metropolitan Police Department released additional photos of Naqwan Lucas and images of both Thomas and Jailen Lucas during the investigation. That public push for identification helped lead to arrests, though the timeline, more than two months between the shooting and the first arrests, raises its own questions about the pace of the investigation.
Tarpinian-Jachym's mother, Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym, appeared on "Fox & Friends First" to discuss her push for justice and her support for stricter crime laws targeting youth offenders. She declined to comment further when contacted by Fox News Digital.
A grieving mother calling for tougher juvenile crime laws is not an abstraction. It is the predictable consequence of a system that too often treats violent young offenders with leniency, only to see that leniency repaid with more violence. Cases involving young defendants charged in shocking homicides have forced the public to confront whether the justice system takes youth violence seriously enough.
The decision to charge Lucas and Thomas as adults with first-degree murder while armed reflects the gravity of the alleged crime. Three people armed themselves, climbed out of a stolen car, and opened fire on strangers in a busy part of the city. A 21-year-old who came to Washington to learn about government died on the pavement.
This is not a case of youthful indiscretion. Prosecutors are presenting forensic evidence, DNA, ballistics, fingerprints, that they say ties these defendants directly to the act of killing. The "overwhelming statistical match" language used in court suggests the government believes its case is strong.
Washington, D.C., has long struggled with violent crime, and the political class that governs the district has long resisted the kind of enforcement-first approach that residents and visitors deserve. When members of Congress focus their energy on political referrals and partisan investigations, the bread-and-butter work of public safety can fall through the cracks.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was doing exactly what civic-minded young Americans are encouraged to do: go to Washington, serve in a congressional office, and learn how the republic works. He interned for Rep. Estes during the summer, gaining firsthand experience on Capitol Hill. He never made it home to finish his senior year at UMass Amherst.
The defendants now face the full weight of the adult criminal justice system. Whether that system delivers the accountability this case demands will depend on prosecutors, judges, and a jury, not on the political winds that so often shape how D.C. handles crime. Lawmakers themselves are no strangers to the intersection of Congress and the courtroom, but the stakes here are simpler and starker: a young man's life, taken without reason.
Several questions hang over the case as it moves toward trial. No motive has been publicly disclosed. Prosecutors have not explained why the suspects allegedly targeted the area near 7th and M Street NW, or whether Tarpinian-Jachym was specifically targeted or caught in random gunfire. The identity of the second individual fired upon has not been publicly detailed.
The exact charges against Naqwan Antonio Lucas beyond his connection to the murder have not been fully specified in public reporting. And while the trial is expected to begin in February, the precise year has not been confirmed in available court filings discussed publicly.
What is clear is this: three people are in custody, forensic evidence is mounting, and a family in Granby, Massachusetts, is still waiting for justice. The accountability that Congress demands of its own members ought to be matched, and exceeded, by the accountability the courts impose on those who take innocent life in the shadow of the Capitol.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym came to Washington believing in the system. The least that system can do now is make sure his killers answer for what they did.