The heartbroken mom of a UMass student murdered in DC told the Herald Gov. Maura Healey is establishing a scholarship in her son’s name to honor his spirit and hopefully start to heal a partisan rift she said still stings.

A fishing derby, help with grief counseling, and any updates from the homicide investigation are also being promised for the grieving mom, who still must collect her son’s belongings and death certificate.

“It’s getting worse not better,” Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym said of coping with the slaying of her youngest, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21. “I want my son to be remembered and that he was a UMass student, too. I want people to know he was a good kid.”

As the Herald first reported Sunday, the family received an outpouring of support from Republicans in the aftermath of their tragic loss, with a letter from President Trump coming as a surprise. Her story was first reported on Friday by Herald columnist Howie Carr on his weekday radio show.

Healey’s office said the governor called the Granby mom Saturday and again today, Tamara told the Herald, where the scholarship and added help was promised.

Healey is putting out a statement that reads, in part: “Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was a remarkable young man. I am deeply moved by his young life and all that he stood for. … He went to DC committed to pursuing public service and making a difference. Instead, his life was senselessly and horrifically cut short.”

Eric was interning for U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, a Kansas Republican, when he got caught as an unintended target of a shooting the night of June 30. He died from his injuries hours later. Two other victims were shot at the site and survived. Metropolitan Police have stated that detectives believe Eric was not the intended target of the shooting.

Eric was a student in the nationally acclaimed Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst.

“He was proud to be at Isenberg,” the mom added in a long conversation with the Herald Sunday and again on Monday.

She remains saddened by her son’s death being made into a partisan issue by what she called hurtful lack of response from Democratic leaders in the Bay State. He interned for a Republican and was sponsored by a conservative organization to afford the experience. But hate and homicide, she said, infects Democrats, Republicans, independents and anyone else felled by a bullet.

Healey, she said, apologized for the late acknowledgment, admitting someone in her office “dropped the ball.”  But the governor is now all in, Tamara said.

“My son was an old soul,” the mother added, “and I’m supposed to pick up all his belongings and his death certificate. I don’t know if I can even read that. This is all still really hard.”

This is a developing story … 

Massachusetts mother: Son’s death turned into a ‘partisan issue,’ with Trump letter, Healey no call

The letter from President Trump to the family of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old intern who was kill in a shooting in Washington D.C. (Family photograph)