President Trump references slain UMass Congressional intern while announcing D.C. crime crackdown
While announcing that he is deploying members of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. and that the federal government has taken control of D.C. police, President Donald Trump referenced a University of Massachusetts student who was killed in a shooting this summer while working as a Congressional intern.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a rising senior at UMass from Granby, died in a June 30 shooting. Police in D.C. said Tarpinian-Jachym was a bystander and not the intended target.
Tarpinian-Jachym was interning for Kansas Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican.
On Monday, Mr. Trump held a news conference about his plans to crack down on crime in the nation's capital.
"I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse," Mr. Trump said at the White House. "This is liberation day in D.C., and we're going to take our capital back."
During the briefing, the president referenced several recent cases of violence, including Tarpinian-Jachym's death.
"In June, a 21-year-old Congressional intern was tragically killed after being hit by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting," Trump said, though he did not reference Tarpinian-Jachym by name.
White House officials said the National Guard was formally mobilized Monday, adding that members will be "flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week."
Local police data indicates that violent crime in D.C. has been on the decline for about a year and a half after spiking in 2023. The Justice Department said violent crime in D.C. hit its lowest level in more than 30 years in 2024.