Tennessee authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Memphis by two National Guard troops that has raised new questions about the Trump administration’s deployment of troops to U.S. cities.
The guardsmen shot and killed 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson during a foot chase around 4 a.m. Sunday, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). The National Guard joined Memphis police following reports that a man was armed with a handgun and had fired shots in the area, TBI said.
Memphis police said the guardsmen fired at the man after he turned his weapon toward them.
Members from the National Guard working as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force conduct a community safety patrol at Tom Lee Park, Oct. 12, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn.
George Walker IV/AP, FILE
The TBI did not elaborate on how the incident escalated but said the bureau is investigating. The Tennessee National Guard did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The shooting comes as President Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to deploy troops to several American cities approaches the one-year mark. About 1,472 National Guardsmen remain in Memphis, and another 120 are deployed in New Orleans.
The largest mission is in Washington, D.C., where roughly 5,000 Guard troops, most drawn from Republican-led states, continue to operate. All of those troops are deployed under so-called Title 32 orders, meaning their movement is controlled by their governor but paid for by the federal government.
Though it is unusual for military personnel to be involved in domestic law enforcement support, the troops have limited legal authority and largely perform security, logistics and other support roles rather than direct policing.
Local lawmakers told ABC News they were dismayed by the tragedy but hesitated to say more as the investigation unfolded.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young called the shooting “unfortunate” in a statement, though he declined to comment further.
“The incident is under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and we will allow that process to conclude before making additional comments,” said Young, who was publicly skeptical of the National Guard deployment last year.
State Sen. London Lamar, who represents parts of Memphis, called for a rapid investigation into the shooting and urged transparency from the TBI. She said that community members were anxious for clarity on the National Guard’s rules of engagement.
“From what I’ve seen and I’ve heard, there are more questions than answers right now, or opinions,” Lamar said. “I think that a lot of people want to know what actually happened to cause the National Guard to use their deadly force.”
ACLU of Tennessee Executive Director Miriam R. Nemeth called for “a full, transparent, and independent accounting of exactly what happened when Tennnessee National Guard troops opened fire on a civilian.”
Memphis — a city that has long contended with high crime rates — has been watched closely as a test case for the White House’s push to crack down on urban crime, with the cooperation of the state’s Republican-led leadership.
Trump announced the deployment last September as part of the “Memphis Safe Task Force” and said the force would “dramatically increase the Federal, State, and local law enforcement presence” indefinitely.
The move was backed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee but drew the ire of local lawmakers, several of whom sued to stop the troop surge. Though a lower court sided with the elected officials and temporarily blocked the troops, the Tennessee Court of Appeals found the lawmakers lacked standing and greenlit the deployment.
Local groups have continued to scrutinize the deployment. Last month, the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking to block Tennessee’s HALO law, which restricts how close bystanders can get to law enforcement activities.
This undated photo provided by his grandfather Evaniel Johnson of Tyrin Johnson.
Evaniel Johnson via AP
Nemeth told ABC News on Monday that the “Safe Task Force” was a “more ironic name than ever” after Johnson’s shooting.
Task force federal agents were involved in two other fatal shootings in May, according to TBI reports. Both are ongoing TBI investigations. Nemeth described the incidents as a “deeply concerning” pattern.
“People who are not from Memphis are coming in, don’t know the community, don’t have any ties or any accountability to this community, and are just being allowed to exert power in a way that really destabilizes the community and really undermines daily life,” Nemeth said.
The task force had made more than 10,000 arrests and seized 1,708 firearms as of June 10, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. City figures show an almost 40% reduction in citywide crime year-over-year and a nearly 35% drop in crime downtown.
It’s unclear how much of that is attributable to the military’s presence, as troops do not make arrests. An analysis from the Niskanen Center found that the National Guard’s sprawling mission in Washington D.C. has had no impact on violent crime, but does coincide with a decline in property crimes.
“I think people need to realize the local authorities didn’t ask for the national guard to come,” Lamar, the state senator, said. “It was a state decision by our governor and President Trump, and so it was sold to everyone that when all of these authorities come into our city, that crime will cease. And unfortunately, crime is still happening.”
Trump — along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi — visited Memphis in late March to tout the results of the task force.
“You have now developed a reputation as a city that’s coming back stronger than any city in the country because of what’s happened with crime and because your political leaders had the courage to do what they did,” Trump said at the time.
The president claimed others were “looking at this all over the country” and predicted Memphis would be “a virtually crime-free city” in two months.