WASHINGTON —

President Donald Trump referenced the shooting death of a University of Massachusetts student among the justifications for placing the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard to make the nation’s capital safer.

The Republican president, who said he was formally declaring a public safety emergency , compared crime in the American capital with that in other major cities, saying Washington performs poorly on safety relative to the capitals of Iraq, Brazil and Colombia, among others.

Speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room, Trump referenced numerous examples of violent crime, including the death of UMass Amherst student and congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym .

"In June, a 21-year-old Congressional in

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