National guard soldiers on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man that authorities in the Tennessee city said turned and pulled a gun on the troops during a chase.
The shooting took place at about 4am on Sunday as the soldiers responded to a report of gunfire.
The Tennessee national guard was deployed controversially by the state’s governor, Bill Lee, in October to support the federal push by Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, to tackle perceived crime surges in Democratic-run cities.
According to the Tennessee bureau of investigation (TBI), the man shot was Tyrin Johnson, 20. The bureau said nobody else was hurt during the shooting – and that it was looking into the circumstances.
“For reasons under investigation, the situation escalated, resulting in two national guard soldiers firing upon Johnson, striking and killing him,” the TBI said in a statement.
It did not identify the soldiers involved and directed inquiries “to the respective department to answer as it sees fit”.
Lt Col Darrin Haas, spokesperson for the Tennessee national guard, also declined to identify the personnel involved.
He told the Associated Press in a statement that Johnson died at the scene after two national guard medical specialists attempted first aid.
Memphis’s mayor, Paul Young, a Democrat, said the shooting was an “unfortunate incident”. But he said he would wait for the conclusion of the TBI investigation before commenting further, according to a statement to the AP by his spokesperson, Penelope Huston.
Young opposed Lee’s deployment of the national guard, which was temporarily halted in November in a lawsuit claiming the move breached the state’s constitution. But the Tennessee court of appeals ultimately approved the deployment in April.
Young and allies pointed out that high crime rates were already falling in Memphis when Lee sent in the state’s military forces in support of the president’s directive – and they said the move was another step by Tennessee’s Republican leaders to chip away at the autonomy of cities under Democratic control.
Citing TBI data, the AP reported that Sunday’s case was at least the fourth officer-involved shooting linked to the Memphis safe taskforce, which comprises federal and local agencies.
Two of the shootings occurred in May and did not involve national guard members discharging weapons. The TBI also tied the taskforce to an October shooting but did not specify which law enforcement agencies were involved.
Johnson’s cousin, Terracle Nelson, said authorities told family members that he had been shot twice in the chest.
The dead man’s grandfather, Evaniel Johnson, said his grandson had taken classes at Tennessee State University, was the father of a young child, and was preparing to help lead the family’s construction business.
He said he wanted to review findings from investigators and any video of the shooting before making judgment.
“I believed in him, and I know he still had so much life ahead of him,” Johnson said.
“The heartbreaking reality is that he will never have the chance to enjoy what we were building together. That is a pain no grandparent should ever have to endure.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report
