The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the killing of Sonya Massey, a Black woman shot by a white police officer in July after calling to report a prowler outside her home. In a letter to Illinois’ Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office,

The Justice Department notified Sangamon County, Ill., that it had opened a civil rights investigation after reports about the shooting raised “serious concerns.”

The Justice Department is opening a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of an Illinois woman inside her own home by a sheriff's deputy. Sonya Massey, 36, was killed by former Sangamon County deputy Sean Grayson in July amid an exchange over a pot of boiling water.

The US Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation of Illinois’ Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office four months after a deputy fatally shot Sonya Massey while responding to her call about a possible prowler outside the 36-year-old Black woman’s home.

The government made a list of demands in dozens of categories in a letter Thursday to the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office.

Sonya Massey was shot and killed while deputies responded to her call about a possible prowler outside her home in July.

The Justice Department wants to know if the sheriff's office has strategies when responding to people in "behavioral health crises," among many other requests.