National Guard soldiers fatally shoot man in Memphis

Two Tennessee National Guard soldiers assigned to a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis fatally shot a 20-year-old man early Sunday after authorities said he turned toward them with a gun during a downtown foot chase.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Tyrin Johnson and said it is examining the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers or soldiers were injured, the agency said.

The shooting occurred around 4 a.m. as National Guard members responded with Memphis police to reports of gunfire. Authorities said the soldiers began pursuing an armed man who was running away on foot. The Memphis Police Department said the guardsmen opened fire after the man turned toward them with his weapon.

“For reasons under investigation, the situation escalated, resulting in two national guard soldiers firing upon Johnson, striking and killing him,” the TBI said in a statement, according to The Guardian.

Lt. Col. Darrin Haas, a spokesperson for the Tennessee National Guard, said Johnson died at the scene after two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid. The TBI did not identify the soldiers involved and referred questions about them to their respective department. Haas also declined to identify the personnel involved.

Johnson’s older cousin, Terracle Nelson, 46, said authorities told family members Johnson had been shot twice in the chest. Authorities did not immediately respond to questions about the number of shots fired, and the TBI declined to comment on Nelson’s account.

Johnson’s grandfather, Evaniel Johnson, said his grandson had taken classes at Tennessee State University, was the father of a young child and was preparing to help lead the family construction business. He said Johnson was also passionate about making music and that he wanted to review investigators’ findings and any video of the shooting before making a judgment.

“I believed in him, and I know he still had so much life ahead of him,” Johnson said. “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.”

A relative told CBS affiliate WREG-TV that Johnson had moved to Nashville to get away from crime in Memphis and that loved ones urged him not to come to Memphis for the Fourth of July, but he did anyway.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young called the shooting an “unfortunate incident” and said he would wait for the TBI investigation before commenting further, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Penelope Huston.

The National Guard members are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, a federal-local effort created by President Donald Trump and supported by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, who deployed the Guard to Memphis in October. Trump had sent troops and federal agents to Democratic-run cities that he described as overrun with crime. Young, a Democrat, opposed the deployment.

The deployment was temporarily halted in November during a lawsuit that alleged it violated the state constitution, but the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in April that state and local Democratic officials lacked standing to block it.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported in June that the task force had led to more than 10,000 arrests. Citing TBI data, the Associated Press reported that Sunday’s shooting was at least the fourth officer-involved shooting linked to the task force. Two shootings in May did not involve National Guard members firing their weapons, and the TBI also connected an October shooting to the task force without specifying which agencies were involved.

Online federal and state court records reviewed Sunday did not immediately show cases related to Johnson. Local court records in Memphis and Nashville showed a handful of minor traffic violations.