Congressional intern killed in Washington shooting
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was not the intended target of the shooters who got out of a vehicle at 7th and M streets northwest and started firing at around 10:28 p.m., the Metropolitan Police Department said.
Also hit was a woman and a 16-year-old boy, who survived, police said in a statement.
Tarpinian-Jachym was unconscious when first responders arrived, and he died at a hospital on Tuesday, the police department said.
U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas, said that he and his wife Susan were sending their condolences.
Tarpinian-Jachym was a senior at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who was majoring in finance with a minor in political science, his office said.
'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.
'We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas' 4th District and the country,' he said. 'Please join Susan and me in praying for his family and respecting their privacy during this heartbreaking time.'
The vehicle that the shooters used has been found, police said, but no arrests have been announced. Police said that 'multiple suspects' fired at a group of people.
The police department said it is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to arrest and conviction of those responsible. The department offers that reward for each homicide in the district.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Woman who works as a crime scene investigator shares gruesome realities of the job
A crime scene investigator and blood pattern expert has lifted the lid on what the tough job is like – from seeing the 'worst of humanity' to now keeping her home like a 'fortress' in fear of intruders. Amy Santoro has nearly two decades of experience under her belt, working in forensics and on crime scenes for some of the grisliest crimes. The 39-year-old has worked on over 1,000 cases, some of which she says have stayed with her – to the point where she is highly safety conscious after all she has witnessed. 'My house is secured like a fortress and I tend to be hypervigilant,' Amy, from Kansas City, Missouri, told NeedToKnow recently. 'Throughout my career, I saw all the things that could go wrong. I saw how easily burglars could kick in a door and gain access to a house, so I have reinforced door jams and extra-long deadbolt locks. 'I saw how easily people could come into a house via a window, so all my windows are locked and I have security window tracks that prevent them from being opened. 'All the entry points to my house are alarmed, and I never leave a ground floor window open. 'I saw lots of burglary cases and peeping Tom situations where people could see straight through the house at night because the curtains were never drawn, so I always make sure to close my blinds at night when the lights are on inside.' She explained that her work has made her more 'aware' about dangers and that death is 'inevitable' for everyone. Amy - who now runs her own service called Santoro Forensic Consulting, focusing primarily on bloodstain pattern analysis and shooting reconstructions - got into the industry as a way to pair her two interests: science and crime novels. She said: 'It was around the time CSI first came out as a TV show and I was absolutely hooked. 'The best part of working in forensics is literally never doing the same thing twice. 'On any given day I could be traveling to visit a crime scene, teaching a bloodstain class, writing a report, or testifying in court. 'I never really know – each case is a unique new experience so each day is something new.' Thanks to her line of work, Amy has been exposed to some horrifying scenes – and her friends and family are often shocked by what she deals with on a daily basis. 'My dad still can't quite handle when I talk about bodies that are badly injured or decomposing,' she shared. 'I don't think he ever thought his daughter who sang in the choir and didn't like to get dirty would have a career that sometimes involved picking maggots off of dead bodies. 'I've been doing it for so long that it has become somewhat routine for me.' A common question Amy faces is how she has faith in human kind, having seen all that she has. She said: 'I have absolutely seen the worst of humanity and I know first-hand that some people are just evil. 'I never cease to be amazed at how brutal humans can be to each other and themselves. 'Every time I think I've seen the worst of humanity, something worse happens. Most of it is stuff people wouldn't want to think about, but I've gotten used to it at this point. 'But, more than that, I've seen how good people are. In every terrible situation, there are people who are willing to step up and help. 'I've really been able to see how communities come together and how families work to support each other. 'Overall, I think people are genuinely good. Unfortunately, that goodness can be exploited and victimized if someone wants to be a predator.' Several of Amy's cases have particularly stuck with her, including one involving a mass shooting in a car park. 'For a while after that, I had a hard time leaving a building and going out to the parking lot,' she admitted. 'My heart would start to beat a little faster, and I was definitely scanning the area looking for people who seemed out of place.' Another notable case was the shooting of a police officer in a gas station. 'I spent hours in the gas station that day looking for bullets and cartridge cases and collecting samples of blood,' she recalled. 'I vividly remember the smell of the racks of glazed donuts that were in the back waiting to go into the display case, and I remember the orangey red square floor tiles. 'When I go into one of those gas stations now, I see those floor tiles and smell those donuts and I flashback to that crime scene. 'Thankfully, I had a great support system and I'm able to deal with those emotions in a healthy way, but sometimes it can be a little jarring.' Despite everything she's witnessed, Amy insisted that she 'truly loves that she does.' 'I realize most people don't have those experiences, and I just have an endless bank of awful mental pictures lingering in the corners of my brain,' she reflected. 'But at the same time, I remember lots of people who we helped, people who got some measure of closure because of the work I did, and I feel like that makes it worth it. I truly love what I do.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Aspiring lawmaker says her decision to SHOOT builder and embarrassing financial scandals make her perfect for office
A political candidate in Kansas has claimed that shooting a contractor and facing financial scandals are exactly what qualify her to hold public office. Lisa Walker-Yeager, who is running for two local government seats in Wyandotte County, posted on Facebook last week to defend herself as she faced criminal charges. The community leader insisted she opened fire last October to protect her daughter during a heated payment dispute with builder Noble Bey. Walker-Yeager has been charged with aggravated battery and unlawfully discharging a weapon inside city limits. She admitted she shot Bey but maintained she did so to save her daughter, Vern'e McClelland, during an aggressive confrontation at her home. Bey, she claimed in court, was furious after being handed a $350 check when he had expected $410 for his work. During a hearing on Thursday, Walker-Yeager and her daughter testified that Bey beat McClelland in anger. A video played in court showed Bey loudly voicing his frustration over the shortfall, reported the Kansas City Star. On Friday evening, Walker-Yeager posted a statement on social media saying it was important for her to be transparent with voters. 'The incident that occurred was an act of protection for my child. I'll leave it at that,' she wrote. 'If you are a parent, I know this will resonate with you because I believe you would protect your children at all costs.' The candidate also addressed her financial record, which includes lawsuits and judgments against her over unpaid debts. 'You and I both know we in Wyandotte have an uphill battle to fight when it comes (to) financial prosperity,' Walker-Yeager wrote. 'I truly believe my past financial challenges are what qualify me for these positions. Because I understand, I've been in your shoes when it comes to financial challenges.' During a campaign event last month, Walker-Yeager was asked whether she had ever been arrested and how gun violence has affected neighborhoods. 'I think gun violence has affected our neighborhoods,' she said at the meeting, according to local news outlet KMBC. 'But I also think guns in the wrong hands have affected our neighborhoods. That's the key thing, it's not the guns, it's the person. 'And until we realize that and understand that, that is a key thing. I have never been convicted, but I will say that I have stood up to protect my family.' Court records show Walker-Yeager has been sued six times over money disputes, resulting in five judgments against her. The largest judgment was more than $17,000. Despite her legal troubles, she remains on the ballot for the November election unless she is convicted of a felony. 'I love you Wyandotte, and I refuse to let these challenges that are being used against me stop me from fighting for you and your families!' she declared. Judge Michael A. Russell has ordered attorneys to submit findings and conclusions by September 12. He will then decide whether to grant Walker-Yeager immunity on the basis of self defense.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
I was in prison with Manson family killer Patricia Krenwinkel. She's changed. Why I think she should be freed
Susan Bustamante was what she describes as a 'baby lifer' when she landed behind bars at the California Institution for Women in 1987. Aged 32, she had been sentenced to life without parole for helping her brother murder her husband, following what she said was years of domestic abuse. Inside the penitentiary that would become her home for the next three decades, it wasn't long before she met another 'lifer' - a notorious inmate who played a key role in one of the most shocking crimes in American history. That inmate, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the Manson family murdered eight victims across two nights of terror in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969. But, despite Krenwinkel's dark past, Bustamante said the two women quickly became close within the confines of the prison walls. 'I was a baby lifer who needed to learn the ropes of being in prison,' she told the Daily Mail. '[Krenwinkel] helped mentor the new lifers... She was someone who would help you get through a rough day and the reality of waking up and being in an 8-by-10 cell for the rest of your life… someone you could go to and say 'I'm having a bad day' and she would help turn your thinking around.' Bustamante spent 31 years in prison with Krenwinkel before, aged 63, she was granted clemency by former California Governor Jerry Brown and freed in 2018. Now, 77-year–old Krenwinkel could also soon walk free from prison. Patricia Krenwinkel (during a parole hearing in 2011) is now fighting for her freedom after the state's Parole Board Commissioners recommended her early release In May - after 16 parole hearings - the state's Parole Board Commissioners recommended California's longest female inmate for early release, citing her youthful age at the time of the murders and her apparent low risk of reoffending. And as far as her former jailmate is concerned, it is time. Bustamante said she has seen firsthand that Krenwinkel is not the same person who took part in a murderous rampage at the bidding of cult leader Charles Manson. 'She's not in her early 20s anymore. Are you the same person you were then or have you learned and grown and changed?' she said. 'That's not who she is today, and she's not under that influence today. She's her own person.' She added: 'Six decades is long enough.' Over their shared decades behind bars, Bustamante said she and Krenwinkel attended many of the same inmate programs, celebrated birthdays and occasions together, watched movies and hosted potlucks. Bustamante said they were both part of the inmate dog program, where they were responsible for caring for and training their own dogs, which lived in their cells with them. Bustamante said Krenwinkel also attended college courses and tutored other inmates. It was Krenwinkel who was there for Bustamante when her mom and sister died, she said. 'We would go to each other for support,' she said. 'It's not easy doing time, so it's good to know there's somebody there for you.' Bustamante refused to reveal details of her conversations with Krenwinkel about her crimes. But she insisted she has seen firsthand that she has shown genuine remorse. 'You can't do time in prison without understanding what happened, what your part in it was,' she said. 'For almost six decades, she's been going to [inmate] groups, going through therapy. You can't do that without understanding your actions, your life, your situation. 'She has done everything within her power to fix herself.' In 55 years in prison, Krenwinkel's attorneys argue she has not faced any disciplinary issues and nine evaluations by prison psychologists have found she is no longer a danger to society. They also argue she suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of Manson, which played a key role in her crimes. But for the victims' families and loved ones, she should never be freed. It has now been 57 years since Krenwinkel, Charles 'Tex' Watson and Susan Atkins murdered actor Sharon Tate and four others at the Cielo Drive, Hollywood, home she shared with husband Roman Polanski back on August 8, 1969. Tate - who was eight months pregnant - was stabbed 16 times. A rope was tied around her neck, the other end of which was tied around the neck of her close friend, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring. He had been shot and stabbed seven times. On the lawn of the home, coffee heiress Abigail Folger was found beaten and stabbed 28 times. Folger's boyfriend, Wojciech Frykowski, lay close by with 51 stab wounds. He had also been beaten and shot twice. The body of 18-year-old Steven Parent, who was visiting the caretaker of the estate that night, was also found outside with gunshot wounds. It was Krenwinkel who had chased Folger across the lawn and plunged a knife into her 28 times. She testified in court that the attack was so vicious that her hand throbbed from stabbing. The next night, the Manson family struck again. That time, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten went to the Los Feliz home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca. They stabbed Rosemary 41 times and wrapped a pillowcase over her head, tying it with an electric cord from a lamp. Krenwinkel stabbed Rosemary with a fork and scrawled 'Helter Skelter' and 'death to pigs' on the walls in her blood. Leno was stabbed 12 times and the word 'war' was carved into his body. His killers left a carving fork and a kitchen knife protruding from his abdomen and throat. For months, panic plagued the City of Angels before the Manson family members were eventually arrested. Krenwinkel, who was 21 at the time of the slayings, was convicted of seven counts of murder and sentenced to death in 1971. Her sentence was commuted to life without parole the following year when the death penalty was abolished in California. She has been held in a state prison for the last 54 years. At her latest parole hearing in May, several of the victims' families begged the board not to let her go free. Among them was Sebring's nephew, Anthony DiMaria, who urged commissioners to deny Patricia Krenwinkel parole for the 'longest period of time'. In an interview with the Daily Mail, DiMaria said the 'least' Krenwinkel could do is spend the rest of her life behind bars, noting she had already 'gotten off easy' when her death sentence was commuted. He said Krenwinkel acted with 'severe depravity', claiming eight victims - seven people and Sharon Tate's unborn son - and has never truly taken responsibility. 'She committed profound crimes across two separate nights with sustained zeal and passion. She delivered more fatal blows than Manson ever did,' said DiMaria. 'Manson didn't tell her to write 'Helter Skelter' on the wall in her victim's blood - she chose. Manson didn't force her to pick out the butcher's knife and a carving fork - she chose to do that on her own.' DiMaria rejects the long-standing portrayal of the Manson Family as a naive hippy cult and of Manson's so-called 'followers' as helpless flower children under his spell. In truth, he says, they were a gang of willfully violent criminals - a group with the optics of a commune but the structure and intent of a criminal enterprise. He argues the false narrative has obscured the full scope of their crimes and allowed some of the killers - particularly Krenwinkel - to skirt responsibility by hiding behind decades of revisionism. 'They start dressing themselves up as victims of Manson, and suddenly they're the ones deserving sympathy… It's truly sociopathic,' added DiMaria. 'Meanwhile, our families are still carrying the grief, still walking into parole hearings to make sure these people stay where they belong.' Tate's younger sister, Debra Tate, declined to be interviewed for this story. Debra also spoke at Krenwinkel's last hearing, warning that she still presented a grave danger to society. 'Releasing her... puts society at risk. I don't accept any explanation for someone who has had 55 years to think of the many ways they impacted their victims, but still does not know their names,' she said. 'My life, the victims' families are forever affected. [Krenwinkel] has not addressed that. I have asked for the opportunity to have a sit-down meeting, possibly 19 times, but that has never been granted. 'You know who wrote me a letter, Charles Manson wrote me a letter. Interesting. For that reason, and many more, Krenwinkel is unsuitable for parole.' Tate's close friend Ava Roosevelt - who would have been at Cielo Drive that fateful night if it weren't for a twist of fate - also told the Daily Mail that Krenwinkel is undeserving of release. 'Sharon would've lived to be 82 now had she not been brutally murdered. So, ultimately, my question is: why is this woman even still alive? Let alone potentially being free again… why is she not on death row?' she said. 'What message would that be sending to society? That it's okay to commit multiple murders, serve some time, and now you're allowed the freedom to live your life again?' Bustamante said there is no denying Krenwinkel's crimes were especially brutal. But she believes she has become a 'political prisoner' due to the infamy of the Manson murders. 'There's a sensationalism and stigma of being a Manson,' she said. 'Pat deserves to spend her last years in freedom but people want to keep her in because of the notoriety of the crime.' Bustamante has stayed in contact with Krenwinkel since her own release and says she has introduced her to her children and grandchildren. Now, Krenwinkel's fate lies in the hands of the California Parole Board, which has a 120-day deadline from the recommendation to review the decision. After that, Governor Gavin Newsom will have another 30 days to reverse the board's decision. It's a step he took once before when Krenwinkel was recommended for parole the first time in 2022. Bustamante fears Newsom will once again veto her friend's release due to his own political ambitions. 'I think he wants to be president, so I worry he will let that influence his decision.'
