Overview
- Lucas, 18, was captured Wednesday in Germantown, Maryland by a regional fugitive task force, charged with premeditated first-degree murder while armed in two cases, and pleaded not guilty Thursday in D.C. Superior Court; he is being held pending a Nov. 7 status hearing.
- Prosecutors say he is responsible for the death of 21-year-old UMass Amherst student and congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, who was shot on June 30 near 7th and M Streets NW and later died at a hospital.
- Investigators describe the June shooting as crossfire in a neighborhood crew dispute, with multiple shooters exiting a stolen vehicle and also injuring a woman and a 16-year-old boy.
- Police have also charged Lucas in the July 4 killing of 17-year-old Zoey Kelley on Benning Road NE, linking the cases as part of the ongoing investigation.
- Two other 17-year-olds — Kelvin Thomas Jr. and Lucas’s brother, Jailen Lucas — were arrested in September and charged as adults with first-degree murder, as Pirro publicly faults D.C. leaders’ approach to youth crime.