The Trump administration announced charges Friday against two teens with “prior violent juvenile records” in the murder of a congressional intern in Washington, D.C, according to multiple reports.
Two unidentified 17-year-olds have been charged as adults in the shooting that left Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, dead from a stray bullet in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood in June, local media outlets reported. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro reportedly highlighted the suspects’ past criminal records as an example of what she deems overly lenient juvenile crime laws in the nation’s capital.
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President Donald Trump cited juvenile crime as a top factor in D.C.’s violent crime just before starting a federal law enforcement crackdown across the district in August. The president has since deployed more federal agents to D.C. streets, taken control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and stationed National Guard various public areas.
Tarpinian-Jachym, a University of Massachusetts Amherst student, was interning for Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas when he was shot dead near the near the Mount Vernon Square Metro Station on June 30, police previously said. He was not the target of the shooting, which was “the result of an ongoing neighborhood crew dispute,” MPD Commander Kevin Kentish said Friday, according to NBC4 Washington.
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“The D.C. [City] Council thinks these kids need to be protected,” Pirro said, NBC4 Washington reported. “They don’t need to be protected. They need to be held accountable, and we need to be protected.” The two teens reportedly face first-degree murder charges, and authorities are still looking for a third suspect in the shooting.
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