A federal crime-fighting task force in Memphis was involved in its second fatal shooting in four days after a DEA agent shot and killed a man while serving a drug warrant at a hotel Wednesday morning.
The shooting happened around 8:30 a.m. as Drug Enforcement Administration agents and members of the Memphis Safe Task Force tried to arrest a suspect in a Shelby County investigation.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, the man refused to open the hotel room door, prompting agents to force their way inside.
An initial statement from the Marshals Service said the man was shot after pointing a handgun at task force members.
But a later statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the inquiry, offered fewer details, saying only that “for reasons still under investigation, the situation escalated,” and a DEA agent fired into the room, striking and killing the man.
No law enforcement officers were injured.
The task force included DEA agents and at least one Memphis police officer assigned to the operation, U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron said.
The shooting comes just four days after another deadly encounter involving the same federal task force.
Early Sunday, two Tennessee National Guard members assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson after authorities said he turned toward them with a gun during a downtown chase.
The Memphis Safe Task Force was launched last year under President Donald Trump as part of a federal initiative to bolster law enforcement in Democratic-led cities that the administration described as struggling with violent crime. While courts blocked plans to deploy National Guard troops in several other cities, Guard members have been working alongside federal agents in Memphis since last fall.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is examining both fatal shootings and will submit its findings to the local district attorney for review.
