Jonah Neal, 25, had a handgun and was threatening suicide. Instead of local police, federal agents arrived at her doorstep. Within minutes of entering her home, a special agent had shot her son, Neal said. It would be hours before she found out her son was dead, she added.
The agent was with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which operates under Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI was sent to Memphis as part of a crime-fighting task force composed of roughly 350 federal agents and 1,450 members of the Tennessee National Guard, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. It began last fall at the direction of President Trump and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
At least five people — including Jonah Neal in May — have been shot by a member of the Memphis Safe Task Force. …
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In its only press release regarding Jonah Neal’s death, which was released in May, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (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 Jonah Neal died, his mother and his grandmother, Cindy Leachman Aldridge, told NPR it’s difficult to believe that a gunshot did not play a role in his death. They are asking to see any body-camera footage from that night.
I’m really excited that Durham where I live has a new program called HEART where you can dispatch non-police first responders. One time I was at a library down town and someone came in from one of the rent controlled housing areas down the street and asked them to call someone, or call 911, and they said “do you want us to call police, or call HEART?” So the person said HEART and someone came and talked with them about what was going on
I don’t know what they were dealing with or what they needed help with, but it makes me happy that there are more tools in our community’s toolbox now, because when all you have is a man with a gun, every social issue looks like criminals doing something nefarious who you must shoot. We need people who can engage with the social issues folks are facing