Detectives believe UMass student Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was caught in the middle of a shooting and was not the intended target.

A 21-year-old intern in a congressman’s Washington office was fatally shot Monday in the city after gunmen opened fire on a group of people, authorities said. Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was not the target of the shooters, who got out of a vehicle at 7th and M streets NW and started firing at around 10:28 p.m., the Metropolitan Police Department said.