Trump is right about crime in Washington – my son's killing proves it
Following Eric's death, his mother, Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym, 62, never heard from Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC.
'I never heard from her. Never a letter, never a call. That was a slap in the face,' the married mother of three told The Telegraph. 'As far as I'm concerned, she thought Eric was a piece of dirt.
'You couldn't even have someone pen you a letter and sign your name to it? She has no class.'
The University of Massachusetts Amherst student was one of several victims of gun violence mentioned by Donald Trump as he announced plans earlier this week to take federal control of the city's police department.
When Mr Trump invoked Eric's killing, Ms Tarpinian-Jachym said it made her feel like her son 'didn't die in vain'.
'I was looking at his urn and a picture next to it of his beautiful, blue eyes. I cried and I said: 'Eric, you didn't die in vain. You're not a number. They're going to do something. They're going to get control of these criminals doing these dangerous acts.''
On Monday, the president announced he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department, as he vowed to 'rescue our nation's capital from crime'.
The impetus for his decision appeared to be an attack last week on Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) staffer nicknamed 'Big Balls', who was left bloodied and bruised in an attempted carjacking.
'He's lucky to be alive,' Mr Trump said.
National Guard troops descended on the National Mall on Tuesday evening, joining hundreds of law enforcement officers who reported having made dozens of arrests since the start of the 30-day operation.
Mr Trump has said that the law enforcement blitz in Washington DC could serve as a blueprint to expand his effort s to other Democrat-run cities such as Chicago that he claims have been overrun by crime.
The move has been met with pushback from Democrats and members of the public accusing Mr Trump of an authoritarian power grab.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, dismissed Mr Trump's clampdown, sharing a department of justice press release from January showing violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low.
'As you listen to an unhinged Trump try to justify deploying the National Guard in DC, here's reality,' the Democratic former presidential candidate wrote on X.
Ms Bowser has called Mr Trump's deployment of officers in her city 'unsettling and unprecedented', casting his actions as part of an 'authoritarian push'.
One DC resident was charged with assault on Sunday for hurling a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer and yelling: 'I don't want you in my city!'
Meanwhile groups of demonstrators flocked to a law enforcement checkpoint in the capital, with hecklers yelling: 'Go home, fascists' and 'Get off our streets'.
Despite White House claims that Washington DC is 'anything but safe', overall crime so far this year is down by seven per cent from 17,136 to 15,921 compared to last year, according to official statistics which the president rejects.
The capital was rocked by a surge in violent crime in 2023, which included the city's highest number of homicides since the late 1990s and a near-doubling of reported carjackings compared to the previous year.
However, both have fallen dramatically following the implementation of a host of initiatives and law changes to deal with violent offenders.
So far this year, violent crime is down 26 per cent on last year and 35 per cent since 2023.
Yet Democrats' efforts to dismiss Mr Trump's crackdown on crime fail to appreciate the public mood over perceived lawlessness in the capital.
Videos of masked young people ransacking shops in the capital are commonplace on social media, with teenagers making off with whole wardrobes-full of clothes and leaving products strewn across the pavements.
Last year, Washington DC had the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country – nearly six times higher than New York City.
And despite overall crime declining between 2023 and 2024, the percentage of residents who said crime is a very or extremely serious problem rose from 56 per cent to 65 per cent, according to a Washington Post poll.
The crime statistics themselves have been a source of controversy, with Mr Trump telling reporters on Thursday that city officials have been placed 'under investigation' for producing 'phoney crime stats'.
Republicans responded to criticism of the measures by saying that the capital should be 'a symbol of safety and strength' and accusing the city's Democrat-run council of pursuing a 'radical, soft-on-crime agenda'.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said that 'every American should be able to visit and enjoy Washington DC without fear'.
Meanwhile Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the capital, hit back at questions over the drop in crime rate, saying: 'It's never enough', pointing to Eric's killing.
'You tell the mother of the intern who was shot going out for McDonald's near the Washington Convention Centre, 'Oh, crime is down.''
Of particular concern are young offenders, with the number of juveniles arrested in the capital increasing every year since 2020, according to statistics from 2024.
Juveniles accounted for 51.8 per cent of all robbery arrests in 2024, according to the city's police department, while the majority of carjackings in the year ending in July 2025 have been carried out by juveniles.
In the case of Mr Coristine, two 15-year-olds have been charged with unarmed carjacking.
Yet for Ms Tarpinian-Jachym, the search for justice over her son's death continues.
The retired occupational therapist welcomed Mr Trump's law and order crackdown, saying the influx of officers would free up the police to fight crime rather than spending time in court and doing paperwork.
Her message to the president's critics? 'It's four weeks of your life. If people don't want to be safe, my question is why?
'I just want people to realise that it's about everybody in DC. My son is gone, it's not going to bring him back, but it may prevent another family from going through the living hell we go through every day.'
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