
🔴National Guard soldiers shot and killed 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in downtown Memphis early Sunday morning during a foot pursuit.
The confirmed facts, from NPR and local
Memphis reporting:
→ Police responded to a shots-fired call
at 4 a.m. and spotted Johnson carrying
a handgun. He fled on foot.
→ Police say Johnson "turned toward NG
members with his weapon" during the
chase. Two Guard soldiers fired.
→ This unit operates under Tennessee
Governor Bill Lee's command, not a
federal chain of command, unlike Guard
deployments in LA, Portland, and Chicago.
→ Memphis police's own data shows violent
crime was already declining in 2025,
before this task force even began.
→ A state judge already sided with
Democratic officials suing to block
the deployment, ruling it likely
violates the Tennessee Constitution,
then paused that ruling to allow an appeal.
The full breakdown of how this connects to
Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the pattern
we've already documented all year is on
our Substack. First part is free.
Sources:
NPR, full original report and TBI statement
confirmed:
npr.org/2026/07/05/nx-s1-5883091/national-guard-fatal-shooting-memphis
HNGN, full $1 billion cost figure and
third-death context confirmed:
hngn.com/articles/271919/20260705/national-guard-soldiers-fatally-shoot-man-memphis-third-death-tied-task-force.htm