WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.
However, he tried to downplay the move at a press conference, calling it "a standard investigation by the FBI."
"This is what I would describe as a standard investigation by the FBI when there's circumstances like what we saw last Saturday," he said. "And that investigation, to the extent it needs to involve lawyers at the Civil Rights Division, it will involve those."
The DOJ's Civil Rights Division typically works in coordination with the FBI to investigate potential civil rights violations, including whether law enforcement officers engaged in the use of excessive force.
Blanche previously said that a similar inquiry was not warranted in the earlier fatal shooting of Renee Good, sparking widespread backlash. At Friday's conference, Blanche said that "cases are handled differently by this department depending on the circumstances."
On Jan. 24, Border Patrol officers fatally shot 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the second fatal shooting in the area by federal law enforcement officers within a month. On Jan. 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good. ■