GRANBY, Mass. — The mother of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, the 21-year-old UMass student and DC intern gunned down this summer, has been watching the coverage of two national guardsmen shot in a targeted attack this week.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that one of the guardsmen had died from her injuries. Another remains in critical condition.
Trump cited Tarpinian-Jachym’s death and other violent crimes when deploying the National Guard across the city this summer.
Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym got a notification about the shooting on her phone on Wednesday. She told Boston 25 the shooting was within a mile of where her son was shot four times and killed on a city sidewalk.
“It’s a hard day for our family,” she said on Thursday. “But, it’s a harder day for the other family.”
She explained after receiving the notification on Wednesday, “I started to shake. I started to cry... I said, ‘Oh my God.’”
Her family celebrated their first Thanksgiving Thursday without her son Eric.
“It was like I was reliving when I had to go to the morgue and look at Eric,” she told Boston 25. “I wasn’t at the hospital to hold my son’s hand when he passed. I didn’t even know he was there.”
Since his death, she’s been advocating for increased security in Washington DC and across the country.
She urged others to stand up against the violence, finishing, “I don’t care if they’re a senator. I don’t care if they’re a congressman. I don’t care if they’re out there protesting. Until it hits their family, they will not understand.”
Last month, three teenagers were arrested in connection with Tarpinian-Jachym’s death.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
