A fatal shooting involving Tennessee National Guard members in Memphis over the Fourth of July weekend has drawn competing accounts from authorities, relatives, local activists, and commentators as the family of 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson calls for video of the encounter to be released.
The shooting was discussed in a video posted by The Daily Caller’s TheDC Shorts channel, which included commentary from the host along with clips from local news reports and interviews with Johnson’s family. The host framed the case sharply, arguing that if Johnson pointed a gun at officers or guard members, the deadly outcome was predictable, while the family and others in the community questioned whether the official account tells the full story.
According to a news clip included in the Daily Caller video, police said Johnson ran from the scene while holding a handgun and turned toward National Guard members during the chase, leading two soldiers to fire their weapons.
Johnson’s relatives, however, said they do not believe that version of events without seeing video evidence.
Authorities Say Johnson Turned With A Gun
The central claim from law enforcement, as shown in the Daily Caller report, is that Johnson was armed and turned toward guard members while fleeing.
A news clip in the video said police reported that Johnson ran from the scene with a handgun before turning toward the soldiers, at which point two National Guard members fired. The video did not show the shooting itself, and the available clips did not include bodycam, surveillance footage, or other visual evidence confirming the exact movements described by police.
That missing video is now a major point in the dispute.
The Daily Caller host said he agreed that whatever video exists should be released, even as he suggested he did not expect it to clear Johnson. That is a commentary position, not a finding, and the facts of the shooting still depend on the investigation and any footage or evidence that may eventually become public.
In any police or military-involved shooting, the moment immediately before shots are fired matters most. Whether a person had a gun, where it was pointed, how close the person was, and what officers or soldiers could reasonably perceive in that moment are the details that usually determine how the case is reviewed.
Family Says The Account Does Not Make Sense To Them
The Daily Caller video included local news clips featuring Johnson’s relatives, including Terrance Pope, who said Johnson’s death had deeply affected the family.
Pope said Johnson was not even 20 years old, and argued that authorities should focus on truly violent criminals rather than people they only assume are violent.
“All I can say is if y’all going to fight against the violent criminals, get the violent ones for real, not the ones y’all think violent,” Pope said in the clip. “Because the people y’all think violent might not be violent.”
Johnson’s grandfather, Evaniel Johnson, also questioned the police narrative in a clip included in the video. He described his grandson as having “a great spirit” and called him “a good child.”
“He’s not a gunman,” Evaniel Johnson said. “He was protecting himself and he was in the process of being jumped at the same time.”
The grandfather said he believed his grandson was trying to get away from danger, not create it, and asked why someone running would suddenly turn around and stop. He said he would accept the facts if video showed that Johnson did what authorities said, but until then, he did not believe the account.
“Show me that on paper, make it make sense to me,” he said in the clip. “I don’t believe it.”
That kind of disbelief is common after fatal force incidents, especially when relatives are hearing the official version before seeing the evidence themselves. Families often know a person through their home life, hopes, and relationships, while investigators focus on the seconds around the encounter. Both realities can exist, but they do not answer the same question.
Calls For Transparency Grow
The Daily Caller video also included comments from Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, who connected the case to a broader history of deadly law enforcement encounters involving young Black men.
“I know that this community and many like it have a history of law enforcement encounters that end up deadly for young Black men,” Spickler said in the clip.
State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a Memphis Democrat, also appeared in the clips and criticized the National Guard deployment as part of a broader political project. Pearson said the presence of armed forces in cities like Memphis had been racist from the beginning, pointing his criticism toward President Donald Trump’s policy of sending troops and federal agents into cities he described as crime-ridden.
Those comments show how quickly the Johnson shooting moved beyond one fatal encounter and into the larger debate over whether military-style deployments belong in American cities.
Supporters of the patrols argue that troops and federal task forces can help suppress violent crime and assist local police in dangerous areas. Critics argue that the presence of armed soldiers can escalate tensions, especially in neighborhoods where trust in law enforcement is already low.
This case sits directly in the middle of that argument, and the lack of public footage only adds pressure for a transparent review.
The Daily Caller Host Took A Skeptical Tone
The Daily Caller host presented the family’s doubts with a skeptical and at times mocking tone, including criticism of how one family member spoke during a local news interview.
For this report, the substance matters more than the ridicule. A grieving family’s speech, accent, or emotion should not be treated as evidence for or against the police account.
The actual issue is narrower and more serious: authorities say Johnson turned toward guard members with a gun, while his family says they do not believe that happened and wants to see the video.
The host’s strongest substantive point was that pointing a gun at officers or soldiers can create a deadly-force situation. That is true as a general principle. If an armed person turns toward law enforcement in a way that reasonably appears threatening, officers or soldiers may believe they have only seconds to act.
But the family’s point is also straightforward. They are asking to see evidence that Johnson did what authorities say he did.
Those two positions are not mutually exclusive. A shooting can be justified if the facts support the threat described by law enforcement, and the public can still reasonably ask to see the footage or receive a clear explanation before accepting the conclusion.
Johnson’s Family Describes A Young Father
In the local news clips used in the Daily Caller video, Johnson was described as a new father who had moved to Nashville and returned to Memphis for the holiday weekend.
Family members said his death was unexpected and devastating. Evaniel Johnson said his grandson carried a gun for protection and had recently been worried about being attacked, but he rejected the idea that Johnson was looking for a confrontation with authorities.
The grandfather also said that if evidence ultimately showed Johnson had turned with a gun, he would acknowledge that Johnson should not have done that. His refusal, he said, was not to accept the claim before seeing proof.
That distinction matters. Families often defend loved ones emotionally, but in the clip, Evaniel Johnson did leave room for the possibility that evidence could change his view.
For investigators, the question is not whether Johnson was loved, whether he had a child, or whether relatives believed he had potential. The legal and factual question is what happened during the chase. Still, the personal details explain why the family is pushing so hard for answers.
Armed Patrols And Public Trust
The National Guard members involved were part of a broader crime-fighting presence in Memphis, a deployment that has been politically controversial.
The Daily Caller host portrayed Memphis as dangerous and treated the shooting as an unsurprising consequence of armed patrols encountering armed suspects. Critics in the clips, including Pearson and Spickler, focused instead on the risks of putting soldiers into local policing environments and the history of deadly encounters in Black communities.
Both arguments speak to real public concerns.
Residents want violent crime reduced, and officers or guard members assigned to patrol dangerous areas face real risks. At the same time, any fatal shooting by government forces requires close scrutiny, especially when the public has not yet seen the evidence that authorities say supports the use of deadly force.
This is why transparency is not just a slogan in cases like this. It is the mechanism that allows the public to move from rumor and political framing toward evidence.
Video Evidence Could Decide The Public Debate
The Daily Caller host ended by saying that any video should be released, while predicting that it may not support the family’s view.
The family is asking for essentially the same first step, though from a very different place. They want to know whether Johnson truly turned toward guard members with a gun, whether he was fleeing, whether he posed an immediate threat, and whether the shooting was necessary.
Until footage or investigative findings are released, the public is left with competing narratives: law enforcement saying Johnson’s actions prompted two soldiers to fire, and relatives saying the young man they knew would not have tried to attack armed guard members.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting, and that process may eventually clarify the sequence of events. But for the family and the Memphis community, waiting for answers can deepen suspicion, especially when public officials are asking for trust before releasing the evidence.
The case is ultimately about more than whether Johnson was a “good child” or whether he had a gun. It is about what happened in the moment when National Guard members fired, and whether the public will be allowed to see enough evidence to judge the official account for itself.
Until then, the family’s demand remains simple: show the video, explain the shooting, and let the facts carry the weight.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
