Tennessee National Guard soldiers deployed to Memphis as part of President Trump’s anti-crime crackdown shot and killed an armed man while responding to reports of gunfire on Sunday, authorities said.
Police were investigating reports of gunfire in downtown Memphis around 4 a.m. Sunday when they spotted a man carrying a handgun.
“The male fled on foot, and officers pursued him with assistance from Tennessee National Guard soldiers assigned to the area,” Memphis Police officials said in a statement.
Police said the man, later identified as 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson, turned toward the soldiers with his weapon. The soldiers opened fire, killing him at the scene.
No police officers were hurt, officials said.
The two Tennessee National Guard soldiers were in the city as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
The fatal shooting of Mr. Johnson stands out as the first and only instance where National Guard troops have used lethal force against a suspect during the anti-crime patrols. However, they have been targeted while on deployment.
Last November, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national living in Washington state, was charged with first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill in the nation’s capital. Prosecutors said he set up an ambush on the sidewalk near the Farragut West Metro Station in northwest D.C., fatally shooting Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounding Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
In the Memphis shooting, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the state’s primary criminal investigative agency, is leading the inquiry.
“TBI agents are working to independently determine the series of events leading to the shooting, including collecting evidence and conducting interviews,” officials said. “Throughout the process, investigative findings will be shared with the District Attorney General for his further review and consideration.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young said Independence Day activities in the city were celebrated “safely and successfully.”
“This unfortunate incident occurred around 4 a.m., well after all festivities had concluded,” he said in a statement. “The incident is under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and we will allow that process to conclude before making additional comments.”
The multiagency Memphis Safe Task Force was established last September to target violent street crime in Memphis. It coordinates personnel from more than a dozen federal agencies, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee National Guard.
The National Guard troops on patrol in Memphis operate alongside a heavy influx of federal law enforcement agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Some state and local leaders have pushed back against the White House’s plans to send National Guard troops to high-crime cities. Military deployments to California and Illinois were cancelled after Democratic state officials filed lawsuits, calling the move an unconstitutional incursion on state power.
However, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed off on sending National Guard troops from his state to Memphis last year after he publicly backed Mr. Trump’s anti-crime initiative.
In May, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the anti-crime task force. The ACLU accused it of monitoring residents in their homes, illegally pulling over drivers, and arresting people for recording police activities.
“What we’re seeing in Memphis is the systematic repression of the First Amendment right to peacefully observe, gather information about, and film government officials operating in public,” said Scarlett Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “No one should have their personal safety or privacy compromised simply for bringing the light to what Task Force agents are doing on the streets of Memphis.”
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