President Trump announced on Wednesday he would be sending more federal agents to US cities with a spike in violence as a “sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative”.
What We Know:
- On Wednesday July 22nd, President Trump released a statement describing Operation Legend as a partnership between federal and local law enforcement agencies aimed at cracking down on a spike in homicides and other violence. Operation Legend is a federal law enforcement operation initiated on July 8th by Trump’s administration and named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed in Kansas City, Missouri on June 29, 2020.
- According to numerous reports, there has been a significant increase in murders and shootings in Chicago, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis since 2019, alarming the administration as most large cities have been mandated to quarantine during the pandemic.
“Operation: LeGend is not to harass, not to harm or not to hurt. It is to help investigate unsolved murders,” LeGend’s mother Charron Powell said at the White House Wednesday. “My one and only child who fought through open heart surgery at four months is gone due to senseless gun violence.”
Charron Powell, the mother of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was struck by gunfire as he was asleep in his bed in Kansas City, MO on June 29, 2020, speaks about the importance of President @realDonaldTrump's "Operation Legend." pic.twitter.com/eWB0pfwm49
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 22, 2020
- Trump made it clear that his administration would never defund the police and said the Department of Justice will provide more than $61 million in grants to hire hundreds of new police officers in cities that are the focus of Operation Legend. The deployment of federal law enforcement is being expanded to Chicago, Albuquerque, and other cities, though multiple lawsuits have been filed questioning the federal government’s authority to use broad policing powers in cities.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said federal agents were repressing the American right to protest and he would not welcome federal agents there. “I still believe in the rule of law in this country, and we would go to court immediately. I believe what the president is doing is unconstitutional,” the Democratic mayor said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show on Wednesday.
Make no mistake — what @RealDoanldTrump has done in Portland is unconstitutional, divisive and dangerous. It threatens the core values of our country.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) July 22, 2020
- Top law officials say the deployment of federal agents to D.C. and Portland was a federal response to protest unrest and is not the same as ‘Operation Legend’. Two federal inspector generals announced Thursday that they will investigate how the Justice Department and Homeland Security agents used force, arrested, and conducted themselves at high-profile clashes with protesters in both cities.
- LeGend Taliferro was asleep in his father’s apartment during the early morning hours of June 29th when someone opened fire from outside. The boy was shot in the head by a bullet and later died in the hospital. Detectives said that after a preliminary investigation, they believe it was not a random shooting and that the apartment had been targeted. The police released video surveillance footage from outside the complex, but no progress has been made on the case. The FBI has doubled the $25,000 reward available through the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, bringing the reward to $50,000.
Preliminary investigation determined this shooting was not random, and the apartment was targeted. There is a $25,000 CASH REWARD for information on Legend's killer. You can stay anonymous by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477).
— kcpolice (@kcpolice) June 29, 2020
Anyone with information about the shooting or the suspect vehicle may call the KCPD Homicide Unit at 816-234-5043 or report the information anonymously to the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline online.
