Newly reviewed body-camera footage has reignited outrage over the death of Jonah Neal, a 25-year-old Memphis man fatally shot by a federal agent while suffering a mental health crisis — and his family's attorney says the video shows the shooting never should have happened.

Neal's mother, Jessica, called 911 on May 20 after finding her son holding her handgun and threatening to hurt himself. Agents from the Memphis Safe Task Force — a joint operation of roughly 350 federal agents, including Homeland Security Investigations personnel, and 1,450 Tennessee National Guard troops deployed last fall at the direction of President Trump and Gov. Bill Lee — responded to the apartment. Within minutes, an HSI special agent shot and killed Neal.

Attorney Andre Wharton, who represents Neal's family, said he and Jessica Neal were recently allowed to view the agents' body-camera footage at the Shelby County District Attorney's Office. According to Wharton, the video shows agents stationed at the apartment's front door while Neal stood at a significant distance inside. He said one agent could be heard saying aloud that Neal was holding a knife, not a gun — and that a different agent opened fire moments later anyway.

"Totally Inconsistent" With Good Policing

Wharton did not mince words describing what he watched.

"It was unjustified in our opinion. The response that we were able to observe was just totally inconsistent with good law enforcement."

Neal's mother told NPR she never imagined calling for help would end her son's life: "My son did not hurt anybody. And, within 30 seconds, she decided his life was not worth it." Neal's grandmother, Cindy Leachman Aldridge, vowed the family won't let the case fade: "We're not giving up. We're gonna have justice."

Neal's death is not an isolated incident. State data show he is one of five people shot by Memphis Safe Task Force members since the operation launched last fall, and four of those encounters, including his, turned fatal — a toll that has drawn scrutiny from local Memphis outlets and national news organizations alike. Wharton is also representing the family of Tyrin Johnson, killed by a National Guard member during a separate task force operation on July 5.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is examining the shooting, declined to comment, citing the ongoing probe, and the Shelby County District Attorney's Office did not respond to requests to discuss the footage. A White House spokesperson defended the task force's broader record, pointing to more than 11,000 arrests and 2,000 firearms seized since it began, and said it has "driven down violent crime in a city that had been failed by extreme Democrats' soft-on-crime policies."

No body-camera footage has been publicly released, and the agent who fired the fatal shot has not been publicly identified. Neal's family says they intend to push for both.