National Guard members on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a 20-year-old man during a pursuit around 4 a.m. Sunday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. Investigators identified the man as Tyrin Johnson. Guardsmen opened fire after Johnson turned toward them with a weapon, according to the TBI. Two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid at the scene. Johnson died at the scene.
The shooting is the first known instance of National Guard troops firing their weapons since President Trump's federal task force deployed to Memphis last October. The Memphis Safe Task Force, which pairs Guard members with federal agents and local police, operates in a city of more than 600,000 people over the objections of Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, and with the support of Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican. The deployment has drawn a pending federal lawsuit and a state appellate ruling on standing, and it has become a flashpoint over the limits of domestic military patrols.
Family disputes the account
Terracle Nelson, 46, Johnson's older cousin, described him as "as good a boy as can be." Speaking to reporters, Nelson said, "I just want to know, how they shot a 20-year-old twice in the chest, he hadn't harmed anyone." The family said Johnson was shot twice in the chest.
Evaniel Johnson, the grandfather who raised him, said, "I believed in him, and I know he still had so much life ahead of him." He added, "The heartbreaking reality is that he will never have the chance to enjoy what we were building together. That is a pain no grandparent should ever have to endure."
Lt. Col. Darrin Haas, a Guard spokesperson, confirmed the involvement of Guard personnel and the medical response. The TBI is leading the investigation.
City Hall response
Penelope Huston, a spokesperson for Mayor Young, said the mayor called the shooting an "unfortunate incident." Young has objected to the federal deployment since it began.
The task force in numbers
The Memphis Safe Task Force has led to more than 10,000 arrests, the U.S. Marshals Service reported in June. There have been at least four officer-involved shootings tied to the task force, according to TBI data. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the domestic deployments will cost nearly half a billion dollars through the end of December and more than $1 billion this year.
Federal troops are now operating in Memphis, New Orleans, Washington and five other cities led by Democratic officials. The administration has cited violent crime as the rationale for the expanded federal presence.
Legal challenges
In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that state and local Democratic officials lacked standing to block the deployment. In May, four Memphis residents filed a pending federal lawsuit represented by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the operation.
The administration's case
The White House has framed the task force as a response to a violent-crime wave. Violent crime in dozens of cities led by Democrats is down significantly since a pandemic high, a decline that predates the Memphis deployment, according to PBS NewsHour's account of the deployments. The TBI investigation into Sunday's shooting is pending and will examine the encounter and the decision to fire.
The ACLU suit remains before a federal judge, and the appellate ruling on standing left open other avenues of challenge. Johnson's family said they want answers about why Guard members fired. Further findings from the bureau's investigation are expected in the coming weeks.