Oct. 31 (UPI) — A teenager has been arrested and charged in connection with two murders, including the June shooting death of a 21-year-old congressional intern, prosecutors and authorities said.
Naqwan Antonio Lucas, 18, of the District of Columbia, was arrested Wednesday in Montgomery Village, Md., by officers with the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Lucas has been charged in a 16-count indictment for the June 30 murder of 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, who interned for Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas, and in a second indictment for the July 4 murder of 17-year-old Zoey Kelly.
He is the third person to be arrested and charged with the murder of Tarpinian-Jachym, a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Authorities said Tarpinian-Jachym was shot four times at 10:28 p.m. that late June night in the 1200 block of 7th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C.
He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital July 1.
Two 17-year-olds — Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr. — were also arrested for the murder in September.
Flanked by large photos of the victims, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro told reporters during a press conference Thursday that Tarpinian-Jachym had been gunned down by masked “thugs” who were “ready for a fight.”
“Eric died alone. No mother, no father, no sister,” she said. “Why? Because three teenagers — two 17, one 18 — all accustomed to getting away with criminal behavior because they lived in a district that didn’t take it seriously. They never believed they would be punished, so they kept moving.”
Pirro, a former Fox News host, said two others were shot in the incident: a passenger on a bicycle twice, once in the stomach and once in the chest; and a 42-year-old woman five blocks away walking into a bar. Three people were also injured by broken glass, two at a bus stop and a healthcare worker four blocks away on the eighth floor.
“But that’s not the end of it,” Pirro said.
She identified the slain Kelly as Lucas’ girlfriend. Authorities said she was killed in the 1700 block of Benning Road Northeast, and found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in a storage container with blankets that was allegedly stored in the closet of a roommate of Lucas’ father.
“Two innocent souls were taken from us from what I believe were predictable homicides based upon the behavior of these individuals and the records that everyone knew about,” Pirro said.
Last week, the FBI and the MPD announced a $75,000 reward for information leading to Lucas’ arrest.
