Memphis police say National Guard troops fired their weapons in the early morning hours Sunday, killing a man who was armed with a handgun.
Police say officers were responding to calls of shots fired in downtown Memphis just before 4 am local time when they saw “an armed male carrying a handgun.” The man — identified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson — fled on foot, pursued by Memphis police officers along with Tennessee National Guard soldiers who are assigned to the area.
What happened next was not immediately clear.
“For reasons under investigation, the situation escalated, resulting in two National Guard soldiers firing upon Johnson, striking and killing him,” according to a statement from the TBI. Memphis police said the man had “turned toward NG members with his weapon” before the National Guard soldiers fired their weapons and struck him.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene. No law enforcement officers were hurt in the incident, according to the TBI.
The TBI says it is investigating the incident at the request of Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. TBI agents are “working to independently determine the series of events leading to the shooting, including collecting evidence and conducting interviews,” the agency said.
The National Guard has been patrolling in Memphis since October of last year as part of a federal task force, established by President Trump, to combat crime in Memphis.
Memphis has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country, according to data from the FBI. But Memphis police say overall crime and violent crime were falling in 2025 even before the National Guard deployment began. Still, some local residents told NPR they welcomed the federal intervention.
Democratic state and local officials sued to block the deployment of the troops, who are operating under the command of Republican Gov. Bill Lee. They argued that the deployment violates the Tennessee Constitution’s limits on when and how the governor can deploy the state’s military forces.
A judge in Tennessee sided with local officials, issuing a temporary injunction that blocked the deployment. But a state appeals court overturned that injunction in April, allowing the operation to continue.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will handle the investigation into the fatal shooting.
Copyright 2026 NPR
