Eric Tarpinian-Jachym left Massachusetts for Washington believing he could help fix a broken system. Instead, he became its victim. Shot on a D.C. sidewalk in what prosecutors insist was a preventable attack, his death has become a searing indictment of the city’s juvenile justice policies and a rallying cry for families who say leniency has gone too far.
With three teenage suspects now facing first-degree murder charges, federal prosecutors vow to pursue the maximum penalties allowed by law. Eric’s parents remember a son who loved the outdoors, believed in justice, and wanted to make the world better, not smaller and more afraid. Their grief now collides with a city where homicides keep climbing and repeat juvenile offenders cycle through the courts. As a grand jury looms, one question hangs over Washington: who will finally be protected—the public, or the policies that failed Er…