Key facts
- A man was killed by federal agents from the Memphis Safe Task Force on Wednesday morning.
- This is the fourth death involving agents from the taskforce since its inception.
- The taskforce was established by Donald Trump via executive order to combat crime in cities.
- Authorities stated the deceased pointed a handgun at agents before they returned fire.
- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is leading the inquiry into the shooting.
Federal agents killed a man at a Memphis motel Wednesday morning during a Drug Enforcement Administration operation with the Memphis Safe Task Force, marking the fourth officer-involved death since the initiative began last year. The taskforce was established by Donald Trump via executive order amid claims of rising crime in Democratic-run cities.
Authorities stated that taskforce agents surrounded an extended-stay motel to serve a warrant on a fugitive facing felony drug charges. After issuing verbal commands, officers made a forced entry. The US Marshals Service, the lead agency for the taskforce, reported that the individual pointed a handgun at members, prompting them to discharge their firearms.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting, and the deceased has not yet been identified. This incident follows three other deaths involving taskforce agents or National Guard soldiers in recent months. On Monday, National Guard soldiers fatally shot a 20-year-old man. On May 21, taskforce officers killed a 25-year-old man who was reportedly armed and threatening self-harm. On May 13, taskforce agents killed a 41-year-old man while serving an arrest warrant at a Burger King.
When Donald Trump signed the executive order establishing the taskforce, Memphis had high rates of violent crime. However, violence had decreased in the year prior to the order. Governor Bill Lee, in conjunction with the president, deployed the Tennessee National Guard to patrol Memphis streets for the past 10 months, a deployment challenged in court by local activists.