The family of a man fatally shot by a Dallas police officer in 2010 is calling for the FBI and Texas Rangers to review the case.
Tobias Mackey was shot to death by former Officer Matthew Tate on Oct. 29, 2010, at a southside apartment complex. Officers were investigating drug activity at the complex. Mackey was not the target of the investigation and was unarmed.
Mackey was shot nine times. An 11-year-old boy also was hit by an officer's bullet during the shooting.
"I want justice for my son, because he did not deserve to be shot down like an animal," said his mother, Sheila Lewis.
A Dallas Police Department internal investigation cleared Tate of any wrongdoing. A Dallas County grand jury also did not indict Tate, who has since resigned and is no longer working in law enforcement.
Civil rights advocates say the internal investigation was not independent.
"The scene of the crime was tampered with," said Stephen Benavides, an advocate and investigator for Mackey's family. "The body was moved, that blood was cleaned up, that the residents in the apartment complex were forced back inside their house."
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Benavides said the many conflicting statements about what actually happened warrant an independent investigation.
Lewis said that in addition to seeking a criminal prosecution, she would also sue the city of Dallas for wrongful death in the shooting of her son.
"I'm a mother that's hurting," she said. "I'm a mother that can't no longer see her son anymore."
The FBI has not confirmed if it would investigate the family's claims.
Both the Dallas Police department and Dallas County District Attorney's Office said the shooting has been investigated.
