The mother of a Washington, D.C., murder victim cried when President Donald Trump mentioned her son's killing while announcing a federal takeover of law enforcement in the district.
The president on Monday said he was putting Washington's police department under federal control and ordering the National Guard to deploy to the nation's capital to combat what he said is a wave of lawlessness.
Trump cited the death of 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, who was killed in a June 20 drive-by shooting while working a summer internship at the office of Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan.
Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, of Granby, Massachusetts, was killed after unidentified suspects got out of a vehicle and began shooting at a group of people, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
"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,'" Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym told The Telegraph when offering her reaction to Trump’s announcement.
Adding to her emotions was the fact Tamara never heard from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser after her son’s killing.
"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 retired occupational therapist said she welcomed Trump’s crime crackdown in D.C. and also added a message for critics.
"It’s four weeks of your life. If people don’t want to be safe, my question is why?" she said, The Telegraph reported Sunday.
"I just want people to realize that it’s about everybody in D.C. 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."
Democrats have condemned Trump's move, saying crime is down in D.C. However, last year the district had the country’s fourth-highest homicide rate, nearly six times higher than New York City.
A Washington Post poll showed that 65% of D.C. residents said crime is a very or extremely serious problem. That's up from 56% last year.
"You tell the mother of the intern who was shot going out for McDonald’s near the Washington Convention Center Oh, crime is down," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Monday. Any drop in crime is "never enough," Pirro said.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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