The fatal shooting of a man in Memphis by an armed Tennessee National Guardsman on Sunday brought shock and concern to some members of the community. Those feelings were still fresh Wednesday when word arrived that another person had been killed by a member of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
“It’s another day in an occupied city,” sighed Jessica Miller, an organizer with the activist group Indivisible Memphis, which has strongly opposed the presence of the task force in her city since it was announced by President Donald Trump on September 15.
The White House cited “tremendous levels of violent crime” in Memphis when it bolstered law enforcement resources there — a move that drew cautious support from the city’s mayor and mirrored a similar effort in Washington, DC.
Wednesday’s shooting of Alfonso Ivy, 47, by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent was the fifth involving a member of the task force and the fourth since May. Officials say the suspect – who has not been named – “pointed a handgun at members of the Memphis Safe Task Force,” while fleeing a warrant on drug charges.
In Sunday’s shooting, suspect Tyrin Johnson, 20, was described as a person “armed with a handgun” who had “reportedly fired shots in the area,” although a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says the reason guardsmen fired in that case is “under investigation.”
