More than 200 people charged with a federal crime as part of Operation Legend says Barr

More than 200 people have been charged with a federal crime and at least 1,000 have been arrested in major U.S. cities as part of the Justice Department's Operation Legend that started in July, Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday.

The Trump administration started the program last month, which sends federal agents to cities with ongoing violent protests to help local law enforcement and to protect federal property. The program has also resulted in the confiscation of roughly 400 firearms by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

AG Barr launched Operation Legend on July 8 as “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,” said the DOJ. 

The effort was named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed in the early morning hours of June 29 as he lay sleeping at his home in Kansas City, Mo. Last week, a prosecutor announced second-degree murder charges against his accused killer. 

Launched initially in Kansas City, the DOJ's program has expanded to Chicago, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Memphis, and Indianapolis.