Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a federal anti-crime task force in Memphis fatally shot an armed 20-year-old man in the back, according to an autopsy report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, contradicting police accounts that said the man was facing the troops when they fired.
Authorities have said that Tyrin Johnson turned toward guard members with a gun while running from them in the early morning hours after the Fourth of July
holiday in Memphis when he was fatally shot in the chest.
But according to an autopsy report shared by Johnson's family, a single bullet went in the right side of his back and exited through his upper right chest. The autopsy findings, reported earlier by The Commercial Appeal, were prepared by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center Office of the Medical Examiner, which did not respond to a request for comment.
The guard members were assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force, created by President Donald Trump, who last year sent troops and federal agents to Democratic-run cities that he described as overrun with crime. The task force was involved in four fatal shootings between May and July.
Evaniel Johnson says that guard members had no justification to shoot his grandson in the back.
“If he ain't caused you no threat, you know what I'm saying, you have no reason to be killing,” said Evaniel Johnson, a former correctional officer with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office in Nashville.
Officers responded to a call about shots fired a few blocks away from Beale Street and saw a person armed with a gun leaving, said Memphis police. The Associated Press obtained a Tennessee National Guard report that said two Guard members responded to the Memphis police radio call, left their vehicle and approached the suspect, who “rounded on them and pointed a tan handgun at them.” The guard report said both troops fired their service weapons, M17 handguns, and then Memphis police arrived shortly after.
The bullet had a slightly upward trajectory through Johnson’s body, the autopsy report said. That would be consistent with him running away from the shooter, said Dr. Steven White, a certified forensic pathologist who did not do Johnson's autopsy but reviewed the report for the AP.
The report said that there was no soot, gunpowder stippling or muzzle imprint around the wound, which White said indicated Johnson was likely shot from more than 3 feet (0.91 meters) away.
“Be transparent — you shot him in the back,” Evaniel Johnson added. “I just want to make sure somebody be responsible for what happened. Some accountability. They ain’t never going to bring my grandson back.”
In the autopsy report, an "investigative narrative” based on an account from an agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also states that Johnson was turning toward law enforcement with a gun.
“The unknown male grabbed at his waistband,” the report stated. “Law enforcement officers saw the unknown male draw a firearm. Law enforcement officers then shot at the unknown male, striking him once in the chest.”
Andre Wharton, an attorney representing Johnson’s family, told the AP that the narrative presented by law enforcement does not match the autopsy findings of a single bullet wound in the back.
“I just see some kind of blatant inconsistency there, in terms of what law enforcement reports,” Wharton said. “The versions don't seem to match.”
The manner of death is listed as “homicide," which typically is used when a death is caused by the actions of another person, but often doesn't factor in intent or carry any legal weight. To date, no criminal charges have been filed.
TBI said the investigation is “open and ongoing" and directed AP to the medical examiner's office when asked to confirm the autopsy findings.
The AP has a pending request for a copy for Johnson's autopsy from the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office.
According to the autopsy report, Johnson was carrying a “handgun magazine with rounds.” Wharton said it was not illegal for Johnson to be carrying the ammunition in Tennessee.
Johnson’s family has asked authorities to show them surveillance video or other evidence that he was pointing a weapon at the guard members. Evaniel Johnson said that the family has still not been shown any video of the moments leading up to the shooting.
Trump’s decision to send Tennessee National Guard troops to Memphis to combat crime was met with a mixed response from residents and was the subject of a lawsuit, though it did not result in widespread protests.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
