Two Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis fatally shot a man Sunday who turned toward the soldiers with a gun during a downtown pursuit, authorities said.
Incident Details
The Guard members were part of a troop deployment the Trump administration launched in Tennessee’s second-largest city last fall. The soldiers were responding with local police to reports of gunshots around 4 a.m. when they began pursuing an armed man fleeing on foot, the Memphis Police Department said.
The guardsmen opened fire after the man turned towards them with his weapon, the department said. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson and said it is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers were injured, the agency added.
Mayor Paul Young called the shooting an “unfortunate incident” and said he was waiting to see the results of the TBI investigation before commenting further, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Penelope Huston.
Background
Federal troops have been patrolling the city since October over the objections of Young, a Democrat, but with the support of Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican. The troops are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, convened by Trump and comprised of federal and local agencies.
For years, Memphis, whose population exceeds 600,000, has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. Both Democratic and Republican officials have noted decreases last year in some crime categories, preceding the deployment and paralleling trends across U.S. cities.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
