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Teenager Charged in Double Homicide, Including Congressional Intern’s Death
Washington D.C. – An 18-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with two separate murders, including the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old congressional intern in June. Naqwan Antonio Lucas, a resident of the District of Columbia, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Montgomery Village, Maryland, by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Lucas faces a 16-count indictment for the June 30 murder of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a University of Massachusetts at Amherst senior who was interning for Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas. He is also charged in a separate indictment for the July 4 murder of 17-year-old Zoey Kelly.
Tarpinian-Jachym was shot four times at approximately 10:28 p.m. in the 1200 block of 7th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., and succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on July 1. Lucas is the third individual to be arrested and charged in connection with Tarpinian-Jachym’s death. Two 17-year-olds, Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., were previously arrested in September.
During a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, flanked by images of the victims, stated that Tarpinian-Jachym was gunned down by masked individuals who were “ready for a fight.” Pirro expressed the tragic nature of Tarpinian-Jachym’s death, highlighting that he died alone and attributing the continued criminal behavior of the accused to a perceived lack of serious consequences.
In addition to Tarpinian-Jachym, Pirro noted that two other individuals were shot during the June 30 incident: a bicyclist who sustained two gunshot wounds and a 42-year-old woman walking into a nearby bar. Three other people were injured by broken glass.
Pirro identified the second murder victim, Zoey Kelly, as Lucas’ girlfriend. Authorities allege that Kelly was killed in the 1700 block of Benning Road Northeast and her body, with a gunshot wound to the head, was discovered in a storage container within the closet of a roommate of Lucas’ father.
Pirro emphasized that both victims were “innocent souls” and that their deaths were “predictable homicides based upon the behavior of these individuals and the records that everyone knew about.”
Last week, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department had announced a $75,000 reward for information leading to Lucas’ arrest.