At least five people shot by Memphis Safe Task Force since September

Jessica Neal said she called 911 on the evening of May 20 hoping to save her son’s life. Jonah Neal, 25, was having a mental breakdown, had a handgun and was threatening suicide, she told NPR in her first public interview since his death. Instead of local police, three agents from Homeland Security Investigations — a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — arrived at her Memphis home as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, she said. Within minutes of entering, a special agent had shot her son, Neal said. It would be hours before she learned he was dead, she added.

The Memphis Safe Task Force launched last September at the direction of President Trump and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. It comprises roughly 350 federal agents and 1,450 members of the Tennessee National Guard, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Since its launch, at least five people have been shot by a member of the task force, according to TBI data. Four of those confrontations were fatal. In none of the five incidents were law enforcement officers injured, and all five cases remain under investigation, according to the TBI.

In their only press release regarding Jonah Neal’s death, released in May, the TBI said members of the task force encountered him “with multiple weapons inside the residence.” The TBI added, “At this time, it is not immediately clear whether Neal died as a result of the agent firing upon him or if it was self-inflicted stab wounds.”

In their first public interview since the shooting, Neal and his grandmother, Cindy Leachman Aldridge, told NPR they find it difficult to believe a gunshot did not play a role in his death. They are asking to see any body-camera footage from that night.

“I want answers,” Neal said. “It was May 20th and I still don’t know anything.”

The TBI told NPR the investigation is ongoing and the bureau does not “have any information that we can share.” Neither the TBI nor the U.S. Marshals Service, which leads the task force, responded to questions about whether the HSI agent who shot Jonah Neal has been placed on leave or remains on the task force.

In a statement, the office for Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he supports an independent review any time deadly force is used. “Mayor Young expects those reviews to be completed fully and transparently, and he believes the facts should guide any conclusions,” the office added.

Neal said she called 911 after coming home and seeing her son holding her handgun in her bedroom. According to Neal, her son attempted to take his own life but struggled to remove the gun’s safety component. She said she ran outside and called 911. Not long afterwards, three HSI agents appeared. Neal said she assumed they were the nearest officers able to respond. Upon meeting, Neal said one agent instructed her to wait outside. Minutes later, she heard a single gunshot, she added.

Jonah Neal died on scene, though it would be hours until authorities told Neal, she said. For the rest of the night, Neal assumed her son had shot himself. It was not until the next day, when her sister sent her an article about the incident, that Neal learned it was an agent who opened fire.

Neal said she was taken aback by the TBI’s statement that they found “weapons inside the residence.” According to Neal, she kept a few self-defense tools in case of intruders.

The first task force-related shooting took place last October after agents spotted an attempted robbery suspect running off, the TBI said at the time. The shooting victim, who was not named, was critically wounded, according to the bureau. In two deadly shootings that occurred on May 13 and July 8, both cases involved agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and took place while task force members were attempting to serve an arrest warrant. Last Sunday, two Guard members fatally shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in downtown Memphis. The TBI said officers were pursuing Johnson and he was armed with a handgun when the shooting occurred. His family is demanding to see video that supports authorities’ narrative. The U.S. Marshals Service and Tennessee National Guard said the Guard members do not own or wear body cameras.

Gov. Lee had originally said Guard members would not be armed or make arrests, unless specifically requested by local law enforcement. On Sunday, the U.S. Marshals Service told NPR that all Guard personnel “involved in direct support to law enforcement in Memphis have been armed for the defense of themselves and others since the start of this mission in October.”

When the task force was first announced, Miriam R. Nemeth, the executive director for the ACLU of Tennessee, said her first worry was whether Memphis would see more instances of deadly force. “It was the first thing I feared and that fear grew to a deep pit in my stomach when we saw what happened in Minneapolis to people involved in the protest there,” she said, referring to the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti. “I turned to my colleagues and I said, ‘Memphis is next. I’m terrified that Memphis is next,’” she added.

Nemeth called the string of shootings “deeply concerning” and said the issue will not go away on its own. “I fear that it’s not and the way to get to the end of this is to have more accountability and to have a real reckoning about what the task force is doing in Memphis,” she said.

Thaddeus Johnson, a former high-ranking Memphis police officer and now senior fellow for the Council on Criminal Justice, said large multi-agency federal task forces — which Trump has said he wanted to replicate in other cities — face complications including different communication styles, types of training, de-escalation practices, priorities and equipment like body cameras or weapons. He said many federal officers coming in are not familiar with the environment they are working in.

“You are not trained for it. You do not have a connection to the community, and you are coming in like a foreign invader,” Johnson said. “It’s a very short-sighted way to view public safety.”

The Memphis Safe Task Force has resulted in more than 10,900 arrests and over 1,800 illegal firearms seized, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. But more broadly, crime had been trending downward in recent years, according to city data.

The White House did not respond to a request to comment on the task force-related shootings. The incidents took place just months after Trump visited Memphis and declared that crime had been “fixed” in the city. “That’s the reason I’m here, to tell you how well you’ve done, how well we’ve done,” he said in March.

Neal described her son as smart, quiet and caring. He loved watching anime, reading Twilight and listening to music. She said he was particularly good at math and science, and wanted to be a doctor. After high school, the plan was for Jonah Neal to work at Sam’s Club and take a gap year before heading off to college. But starting in his 20s, he began to struggle with his mental health, according to his mother.

“He would say, ‘I can’t just be happy,’” she said.

A little while later, Jonah Neal started to seek alcohol to cope, Neal added. His mental health worsened after his father died last year. According to his mother, it was also difficult to get him help because he did not have health insurance. In the months before his death, Neal said her son was becoming open to the idea of going to a rehab center.

“I never gave up hope,” Neal said.

At Jonah Neal’s funeral last month, his younger sister wrote the eulogy, which recalled his days running cross-country in high school and his deep affection for his dog, Flynn. Although Jonah Neal struggled in his final years, family members and his best friend spoke at length about the good moments and the joy he brought to their lives.

“There was not a mean bone in Jonah’s body, ever,” Leachman Aldridge said.