Congressional intern killed in Northwest DC triple shooting

A congressional intern was killed Monday night just outside an entrance to the Mount Vernon Square Metro Station in a triple shooting that also injured a 16-year-old.

Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, was in D.C. for the summer for an internship at the Capitol Hill office of Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas.

“I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile,” Estes said in a statement.

Tarpinian-Jachym was one of three people shot when two masked men got out of an Acura SUV and opened fire on two teenage boys on bikes engaged in an argument. Someone may have returned fire, but police are not calling it an exchange of gunfire.

Police said Tarpinian-Jachym was not the intended target. He was struck in the abdomen by what appears to be a round from a rifle.

A woman and a 16-year-old were also shot and are recovering.

A congressional intern was killed in a triple shooting Monday night on 7th and M Streets Northwest. News4's Jackie Bensen reports.

The teen, who was one of the bicyclists engaged in the argument, was critically wounded with spinal injuries.

Security camera video from a business shows the woman running inside for help. She got struck in the leg about two blocks away from the shooting.

Tarpinian-Jachym was a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was studying politics and finance. His parents came to D.C. Thursday to identify his body, police said.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith told News4 the shooting is under active investigation, and developments are happening quickly.

“It's such a tragic loss of a young man who's in our city conducting, being a part of something that I think is profound for most young people. Interning at a U.S. House of Representatives office is a big deal,” she said. “We want people to put the guns down. Innocent bystander, a young lady who was also shot in addition to Eric,. Unacceptable in all ways, shape, forms of fashion.”

The vehicle police believe was involved in the shooting has been recovered. Police are searching for the masked men, the driver and another passenger.

The FBI is enhancing grainy video that captured the gunfire.