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Politics50 outlets ran this4 min read

Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police

An autopsy report indicates Tyrin Johnson was shot from behind, differing from initial accounts.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Members of the National Guard stand watch on Beale St., Friday, July 17, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV,File)

What this story says

  • An autopsy report indicates Tyrin Johnson, 20, was fatally shot in the back by Tennessee National Guard members in Memphis.
  • This finding contradicts initial police accounts stating Johnson was facing the troops when they fired.
  • The National Guard members were assigned to the federal Memphis Safe Task Force.
  • Johnson's family stated the guard members had no justification to shoot him in the back.

Who covered it

Left 34%(16)Centre 55%(26)Right 11%(5)

Percentages are shares of the 47 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 50 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

50/100

Craft

60/100

Hype

20/100

50 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 5 of the 47 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

An autopsy report indicates that Tyrin Johnson, a 20-year-old armed man, was fatally shot in the back by Tennessee National Guard members in Memphis. This finding contradicts initial police accounts that stated Johnson was facing the troops when they fired. The National Guard members were assigned to the federal Memphis Safe Task Force.

Authorities had initially stated that Johnson was running from law enforcement and turned toward guard members with a gun when he was shot. However, the autopsy report, prepared by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center Office of the Medical Examiner, shows a single bullet entered the right side of his back and exited his upper right chest. This trajectory is consistent with him running away from the shooter, according to a forensic pathologist who reviewed the report. The autopsy also noted the absence of soot or gunpowder stippling around the wound, suggesting the shot was fired from more than three feet away.

The manner of death was listed as homicide, a classification used when a death is caused by another person's actions. Johnson's family has stated that the guard members had no justification to shoot their grandson in the back. An attorney for the family noted inconsistencies between law enforcement's narrative and the autopsy findings.

Conflicting accounts of the shooting

Initial police accounts stated that Tyrin Johnson turned toward guard members with a gun while running from them before he was shot. The Tennessee National Guard report indicated that two members responded to a radio call, approached the suspect, who then "rounded on them and pointed a tan handgun at them," leading both troops to fire their weapons. However, an "investigative narrative" within the autopsy report, based on an account from a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent, also states Johnson was turning toward law enforcement with a gun. In contrast, the autopsy itself shows a bullet wound in the back, which Johnson's family attorney stated does not match the law enforcement narrative.

What the coverage left out

None of the left-rated, centre-rated, or right-rated reports mentioned the specific number of National Guard members involved in the shooting, nor did they detail the specific training received by those members. The right-rated report did not include statements from Tennessee State Senators London Lamar and Raumesh Akbari, nor did it mention the age of one of the guard members involved.

Tags:#TyrinJohnson#NationalGuard#Memphis#PoliceAccountability#AutopsyReport

Coverage settled. We checked this 27 times and stopped on 3 Sept 2026, 01:00. The figures above are what it finished at.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police
Action News 5Centre

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

16 rated outlets

  • Left-rated reports led with the autopsy finding that Tyrin Johnson was shot in the back, directly contradicting initial police accounts. These reports highlighted the discrepancy between the autopsy and law enforcement's statements, quoting Johnson's family and their attorney expressing concern over the inconsistencies. Several reports mentioned the National Guard members were assigned to a federal anti-crime task force created by President Donald Trump. Some also noted that the task force had been involved in other fatal shootings. Tennessee State Senators London Lamar and Raumesh Akbari were quoted calling for transparency and accountability, with Senator Akbari questioning how a man could be shot in the back while allegedly turning toward his shooters.

Centre

26 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports also focused on the autopsy revealing Tyrin Johnson was shot in the back, contrasting this with initial police statements. These reports featured comments from Johnson's family and their attorney, who questioned the inconsistencies in the official account. Several outlets mentioned that the Shelby County Medical Examiner ruled Johnson's death a homicide. Some reports included statements from Tennessee State Senators Lamar and Akbari, who expressed disappointment and called for explanations regarding the shooting. The fact that one of the guard members involved was 19 years old was also noted in some reports.

Right

5 rated outlets

  • The right-rated digests reported that an autopsy showed an armed man was shot in the back by the Tennessee National Guard. This finding contradicted law enforcement accounts, which stated the man was facing the troops when they fired.
  • These digests mentioned the autopsy report was shared by the man's family with The Associated Press. They noted that the man killed was 20 years old and identified him as Tyrin Johnson.
  • The digests did not include details about the specific circumstances of the encounter or any statements from law enforcement beyond their initial accounts.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police?
Of the 47 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 34% are rated left, 55% are rated centre, 11% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 50. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 47 rated outlets on this story, 34% are rated left, 55% are rated centre, 11% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police biased?
Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police is one event reported by 50 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Autopsy: National Guard shot armed man in back, contradicting police?
50 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did the autopsy report reveal about Tyrin Johnson's shooting?
The autopsy report indicated that Tyrin Johnson, a 20-year-old armed man, was fatally shot in the back by Tennessee National Guard members in Memphis. This finding directly contradicted initial police accounts that stated Johnson was facing the troops when they fired.
What was the initial police account of the shooting?
Authorities initially stated that Tyrin Johnson was running from law enforcement and turned toward guard members with a gun before he was shot. A Tennessee National Guard report also indicated that the suspect "rounded on them and pointed a tan handgun at them" before troops fired.
What is the significance of the autopsy ruling the death a homicide?
The ruling of homicide means that the death was caused by the actions of another person. This classification is typically used in such cases and does not inherently imply intent or legal culpability, but it signifies that the death was not self-inflicted or accidental.

Read it at the source

50 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

16
Show 8 more

Centre

26
Show 18 more

Right

5

Not rated

3

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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