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National Guard members patrolling in Memphis shoot and kill man during chase, police say

National Guard members patrolling in Memphis shoot and kill man during chase, police say

Two Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man Sunday who turned toward soldiers with a gun during a chase downtown, authorities said. The Guard members are part of a federal task force in Memphis created by President Donald Trump, who last year sent federal troops and

Two Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man Sunday who turned toward soldiers with a gun during a chase downtown, authorities said.

The Guard members are part of a federal task force in Memphis created by President Donald Trump, who last year sent federal troops and agents to Democratic-run cities that he described as overrun by crime. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, had deployed the Guard to support the effort.

Authorities said soldiers in Memphis were responding with local police to reports of gunfire around 4 a.m. when they began pursuing an armed man who fled on foot. The guards opened fire after the man turned his gun on them, according to the city’s police department.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Tyrin Johnson, 20, and said it is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers were injured, the agency added.

Johnson died at the scene after two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid, Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Darrin Haas said in a statement.

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

Evaniel Johnson said his grandson had taken classes at Tennessee State University, was the father of a young child and was preparing to help run the family construction business. He said his grandson was also passionate about making music.

He said 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 a lot of life ahead of him,” Johnson said. “The heartbreaking reality is that he will never have the opportunity to enjoy what we were building together. That is a pain no grandparent should have to endure.”

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 spokeswoman Penelope Huston.

A search of online records in federal and state courts on Sunday did not immediately turn up any cases involving Johnson. In Memphis and Nashville, local court records showed he committed several minor traffic violations.

Federal troops have been patrolling the city since October despite the objections of Young, a Democrat. The troops are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, convened by Trump and made up of federal and local agencies.

The task force has led to more than 10,000 arrests, the U.S. Marshals Service reported in June.

There have been at least four shootings involving officers linked to the task force, according to TBI data. Two of those shootings occurred in May and did not involve National Guard members discharging their weapons. The TBI also linked the task force to a shooting in October, but did not specify which law enforcement agencies were involved.

The TBI and National Guard did not respond to questions about whether Sunday’s shooting was the first instance of troops firing their weapons since they were deployed to the city.

For years, Memphis, whose population exceeds 600,000, has faced a high level of violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. Both Democratic and Republican officials have noted declines last year in some crime categories, before the rollout, and parallel trends across U.S. cities.

In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that Democratic state and local officials lacked standing to block the deployment of federal troops to Memphis.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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