A member of a federal crime-fighting task force in Memphis shot and killed a man Wednesday, marking the second deadly shooting involving a task force member in just four days.
The shooting happened around 8:30 a.m. local time as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were executing a Shelby County drug warrant, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The suspect was inside a hotel room and would not open the door, prompting agents to force their way in, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron.
In an earlier statement, the Marshals Service said the man was shot after he pointed a handgun at task force members. A subsequent release from the state bureau, which is investigating the incident, offered fewer details. It said that “for reasons still under investigation, the situation escalated,” leading a DEA agent to fire into the room, striking and killing the man.
Officials have not released the man’s name. According to the state bureau, he is at least the fourth person since May to die after being shot by a member of the task force.
No officers were hurt in the incident, the state bureau said. McCarron said the DEA team involved included at least one officer from the Memphis Police Department.
The Memphis Safe Task Force was established last year by President Trump as part of a broader push to deploy National Guard troops and federal agents to Democratic-led cities he characterized as struggling with crime. While courts blocked plans to send troops to some other cities, Tennessee National Guard members have been operating in Memphis with the task force since last fall.
Early Sunday, two Guardsmen shot and killed 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson after they said he turned toward them with a gun during a pursuit downtown.
Johnson’s family said they were told by the TBI that he was struck twice in the chest. His grandfather, Evaniel Johnson, said Johnson had attended classes at Tennessee State University, had a young child and was getting ready to take on a leadership role in the family business.
The grandfather called on authorities to release any video evidence of the shooting.
On May 13, a member of the Memphis Safe Task Force also shot and killed another person while serving an arrest warrant, the state bureau reported. Forty-one-year-old Darrin Pigram had reached for a gun in his waistband before a DEA agent opened fire, officials said.
Just over a week later, on May 21, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent within the task force fatally shot 25-year-old Jonah Neal, the state bureau said. Neal was armed with a gun and was threatening to harm himself, the state bureau said. The agency said it was unclear whether Neal died as a result of the gunshot, or if it was self-inflicted stab wounds.
TBI has been charged with investigating all the shootings and will turn the results over to the local district attorney general.
