A Tennessee National Guard autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press reveals that Tyrin Johnson, 20, was fatally shot in the back by Guard members assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force on July 5, contradicting prior statements from authorities that Johnson had turned toward troops with a firearm.
The West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center conducted the autopsy, which found a single bullet entered the right side of Johnson’s back and exited through his upper right chest. A forensic pathologist reviewing the findings for the AP stated the bullet’s trajectory was consistent with Johnson running away from the shooter at the time of the incident. The Guard members were deployed under President Donald Trump’s federal anti-crime initiative, which sent troops to Democratic-led cities in 2020.
Memphis police responded to reports of gunfire near Beale Street in the early hours of July 5 and observed an armed individual leaving the scene. According to an AP-obtained Tennessee National Guard report, two Guard members exited their vehicle and approached Johnson, who allegedly “rounded on them and pointed a tan handgun.” Both troops fired their M17 service weapons, and Memphis police arrived shortly afterward. The Guard report did not specify Johnson’s position relative to the troops when he was shot.
Johnson’s family, represented by attorney Andre Wharton, disputes the official narrative. Evaniel Johnson, Johnson’s grandfather and a former correctional officer, stated, “Be transparent — you shot him in the back.” The family has called for accountability, emphasizing the lack of justification for shooting an armed individual in the back. Wharton noted that the autopsy findings “appear difficult to reconcile” with the Guard’s account that Johnson faced the troops when fired upon.
The Memphis Safe Task Force, created under Trump’s initiative, has been involved in four fatal shootings between May and July 2021. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s narrative, included in the autopsy report, claims Johnson reached for his waistband, drew a firearm, and was shot after officers saw the weapon. However, the physical evidence does not support this version of events, according to the pathologist’s review.
The Tennessee National Guard and Memphis Police Department have not publicly addressed the autopsy findings or the discrepancies in their accounts. The West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center declined to comment when contacted by the AP. The incident remains under review by internal and external investigative bodies, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice, which has previously scrutinized federal deployments to cities under the Trump administration’s anti-crime operations.