After a nationwide outcry, the U.S. Justice Department said late Monday it would investigate "The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation," it said in a statement. "The department also is providing assistance to and cooperating with the state officials in their investigation into the incident."
On Tuesday afternoon, the state attorney for Brevard and Seminole counties, Norman Wolfinger, said his office would conduct its own investigation, beginning April 1o.
The federal probe, to be conducted by the FBI and the Justice Department's civil rights division, looks set to focus on whether the shooter, George Zimmerman, violated 17-year-old Martin's civil rights by targeting him because of his race.
Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, was patrolling the streets of a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26 when he spotted Martin and told a police dispatcher that a "black male" was acting "suspicious." Zimmerman, 28, ignored a warning from the dispatcher not to pursue Martin, and a violent confrontation ensued, leaving Martin dead. Zimmerman told local police he acted in self-defense, and he has not been detained or charged, though questions have been raised about the thoroughness of the police investigation.
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