Guard members were assigned to federal anti-crime task force in Memphis
An autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday shows that Tennessee National Guard members fatally shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in the back during a July 5 encounter in Memphis, contradicting the official account of the incident. The autopsy findings, which Johnson’s family shared with AP, trace a single bullet from Johnson’s right back through his upper right chest — a trajectory inconsistent with the account that authorities gave shortly after the shooting.
Memphis authorities have said that Johnson turned toward the guard members with a gun while running from them in the early morning hours after the Fourth of July holiday. According to that account, he was fatally shot in the chest.
The autopsy report tells a different story. According to the document shared by Johnson’s family, a single bullet entered the right side of Johnson’s back and exited through his upper right chest.
The trajectory — from back to front — is at odds with the official account’s description of Johnson facing the guard members when they fired.
The autopsy was prepared by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center Office of the Medical Examiner. The office did not respond to a request for comment from AP.
The Commercial Appeal of Memphis first reported the autopsy findings. AP obtained the report through Johnson’s family on Thursday.
The guard members involved in the shooting were assigned to a federal anti-crime task force operating in Memphis, a deployment that placed military personnel in a domestic law-enforcement role.
The central factual disagreement between the medical examiner’s findings and the account that authorities provided shortly after the shooting is the location of the bullet’s entry — Johnson’s right back. That disagreement raises questions about the precise circumstances of the fatal encounter.