Two Tennessee National Guard soldiers assigned to a federally directed crime patrol in Memphis fatally shot a 20-year-old man early Sunday after he reportedly turned toward them with a firearm while being chased on foot, according to authorities.
The Trump administration ordered National Guard deployments to Memphis and five other cities run by Democratic mayors — among them New Orleans and Washington, D.C. — as part of an effort to address what the administration has characterized as an unchecked surge in violent crime. Critics point out that violent crime has actually dropped considerably in many Democrat-led cities since its peak during the pandemic. The Guard presence in Memphis began last fall as part of that broader federal push.
City and local leaders in the affected communities have pushed back against the federal intervention, arguing it is not needed, and some have taken legal action to challenge the deployments.
Memphis police said the soldiers were responding alongside local officers to reports of gunfire at around 4 a.m. when they spotted an armed man and gave chase on foot.
According to the police department, the guardsmen fired their weapons after the man turned in their direction while still holding his gun.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Tyrin Johnson, 20, and announced it is looking into the details surrounding the shooting. No officers or soldiers were hurt, the agency said.
Johnson died at the scene. Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Darrin Haas said in a statement that two National Guard medical specialists tried to provide first aid before Johnson succumbed to his injuries.
Johnson’s older cousin, Terracle Nelson, 46, described him to The Associated Press as “as good a boy as can be.” She said Johnson had been living in Nashville, working in construction and taking university courses. He had also recently become a father for the first time earlier this year.
Nelson was with other family members when officials informed them that Johnson had been shot twice in the chest.
“I just want to know, how they shot a 20-year-old twice in the chest, he hadn’t harmed anyone,” Nelson said.
Law enforcement did not immediately respond to questions about the total number of shots fired. The TBI declined to comment on Nelson’s account of the events.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young described the shooting as an “unfortunate incident” and said he would wait for the TBI’s findings before making further remarks, according to a statement from spokesperson Penelope Huston.
Federal troops have been operating in Memphis since October, despite opposition from Mayor Young, a Democrat. The deployment has the backing of the state’s governor, a Republican. The soldiers are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, which was established by the Trump administration and includes both federal and local agencies.
Memphis, a city of more than 600,000 residents, has long grappled with elevated levels of violent crime, including carjackings, assaults, and homicides. Officials from both parties have acknowledged that certain crime categories declined last year — a trend that predates the military deployment and mirrors patterns seen in cities across the country.
The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, has estimated that the deployments cost nearly half a billion dollars through the end of December and are projected to exceed $1 billion in taxpayer costs this year.
In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals determined that Democratic state and local officials did not have legal standing to halt the federal troop deployment in Memphis.
In May, four Memphis residents filed a federal lawsuit still pending in court, seeking to prevent the task force from enforcing a rule that prohibits people from coming within 25 feet of law enforcement officers while recording their activities.
Those residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, also claim that task force members have repeatedly retaliated against them for filming operations. They allege they have been followed by officers and that unmarked vehicles and people in tactical vests have appeared outside their homes after they were seen observing the task force.
