ST. LOUIS — More than 100 people have been charged with federal crimes since Operation LeGend began in St. Louis.
According to Attorney General William P. Barr, 123 defendants have been charged since it started in August.
Here’s what they’ve been charged with:
54 defendants have been charged with narcotics-related offenses
53 defendants have been charged with firearms-related offenses
16 defendants have been charged with other violent crimes
Operation LeGend first launched in Kansas City, Missouri in July and has since expanded to several other cities. The initiative is named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept early in the morning of June 29 in Kansas City.
According to the Department of Justice, Operation Legend is a “sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime.”
The day the program was announced in St. Louis, protesters gathered outside the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department while the press conference to announce the program was happening. Some chanted, “take the feds with you.”
Since the operation’s launch across the country, there have been more than 2,000 arrests, including defendants who have been charged in state and local courts. Of those arrests, approximately 592 defendants have been charged with federal crimes, according to a release from the Department of Justice.