SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The FBI has launched an independent investigation into a deputy sheriff's killing of a 13-year-old boy while he was walking to a friend's house this week to return a replica of an assault rifle, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas announced on Friday night that the FBI will conduct an inquiry into the shooting death of Andy Lopez Cruz in Santa Rosa, a community in northern California's wine country.
Hundreds of protesters, many of them Latino teenagers, have demonstrated daily, calling for an investigation into the Tuesday afternoon incident in a blue-collar neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
While the Santa Rosa Police Department and other local agencies continue to investigate the shooting, civil rights advocates have sought an independent federal investigation.
The FBI's San Francisco office will "review all the facts and see if there was any federal crime committed, whether the individual's civil rights were violated," said spokesman Peter Lee.
Freitas said he welcomed the FBI probe into the death of the popular eighth-grader who played the trumpet and basketball and enjoyed teasing friends.
