Two Tennessee National Guard members on a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis fatally shot a 20-year-old man on Sunday who authorities said turned toward them with a gun during a downtown pursuit. The incident occurred around 4 a.m. when the Guard members, responding with local police to reports of gunshots, began pursuing an armed man fleeing on foot, according to the Memphis Police Department.
The soldiers opened fire after the man turned toward them with his weapon, the department stated. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Tyrin Johnson and is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers were injured, the TBI added.
Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Darrin Haas confirmed that two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid, but Johnson died at the scene. Mayor Paul Young called the shooting an “unfortunate incident” and is awaiting the TBI investigation's results before further comment.
The National Guard members are part of a troop deployment initiated by the Trump administration in Memphis last fall. The troops are assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force, a joint federal and local agency initiative. Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, supported the deployment, which began over the objections of Mayor Young, a Democrat. The federal troops have been patrolling the city since October.
Memphis, a city with a population exceeding 600,000, has grappled with high rates of violent crime, including assaults, carjackings, and homicides. Officials from both major parties have noted decreases in some crime categories last year, which coincided with the federal deployment and mirrored trends in other U.S. cities.
The Trump administration has ordered National Guard deployments in six cities led by Democratic mayors, including New Orleans and Washington, D.C. According to the Congressional Budget Office, these deployments cost nearly half a billion dollars through the end of December and are projected to exceed $1 billion this year.
Local leaders in these cities have expressed that they do not believe federal intervention is necessary, and some have pursued legal challenges against the deployments. In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that state and local Democratic officials lacked the standing to block the deployment of federal troops in Memphis. Separately, four Memphis residents filed a federal lawsuit in May, which is still pending. They seek to block the federal task force from enforcing a law that prohibits residents from approaching within 25 feet of law enforcement officers to record their activities. The residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, also allege that task force members have retaliated against them for filming operations, citing instances of being followed by law enforcement and having unmarked vehicles and individuals in tactical vests appear at their homes after observing the task force.