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Out of more than 1,000 arrests, approximately 217 face federal charges.
Attorney General William Barr announced on Wednesday that there have so far been nearly 1,500 arrests in eight US cities as part of the “ Operation Legend ” law enforcement initiative launched about six weeks and highlighted by President Donald Trump in his re-election campaign.
Of those arrests, according to the Justice Department, about 217 defendants have been charged with federal crimes, most of which are drug and gun related. Barr said investigators had also assisted state and local authorities in laying homicide charges against more than 90 defendants.
“That’s over 90 suspected killers who could still be on the streets without Operation Legend,” AG Barr said at a press conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
Officials at the press conference could not say how many of the 1,485 people arrested in Operation Legend are still in detention. The ATF also claims to have seized nearly 400 firearms since the start of the operation.
“Our work is only just beginning, there is no mission more important to the Department of Justice than to keep our communities safe,” Barr said.
Barr launched “ Operation Legend ” early last month, telling ABC News Chief Justice Pierre Thomas in an exclusive interview that the initiative was named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro , who was shot and killed in his sleep on June 29. in Kansas City.
Kansas City Police announced the arrest of a suspect in Taliferro’s murder last week.
Taliferro’s mother spoke briefly at the press conference where she thanked investigators who helped locate her son’s alleged murderer.
“We don’t have our son, but we have a weight taken from us,” said Taliferro.
Trump opened a White House press conference last week holding up a photo of the boy.
Local leaders have in several cases been initially reluctant to the administration’s announcements that it would deploy federal investigators to cities due to the increase in violent crime, citing Seattle and Portland scenes of troops in fatigues and them. threats from Trump to crack down on cities. by the Democrats.
Barr noted that Operation Legend, however, is separate from those deployments in response to the unrest and that the dozens of investigators dispatched to the cities are instead focusing on helping federal and state authorities investigate violent crime.
“There has been a lot of confusion in the media, some of which was not unintentional, confusing two different aspects of law enforcement,” Barr said. “One deals with civil unrest, riots, and the other is classic traditional law enforcement work.”
During the press conference, Barr referred to the recent upsurge in violent crime in several parts of the country – at one point – without providing any evidence, which he believed could be the result of a combination of ” pent-up assault “against state and local quarantine orders,” the premature release of dangerous criminals by the courts “during the COVID-19 pandemic and the” Defund the Police “movement.
Barr added that he expected the national violent crime rate to increase this year after declining for the past two years.
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