The Nashville shooting that killed one woman dead and wounded eight others is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.
"The Memphis FBI Field Office's Nashville Resident Agency, the Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee have opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee," said David Boling, spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Nashville.
"The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence. As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time."
Nashville police say Emanuel Samson, 26, shot and killed a woman in the parking lot of the church before entering the building and shooting others. Samson shot himself in a struggle with church usher Robert Engle, police say. Engle, who was pistol whipped, went to his vehicle and got his own handgun to hold Samson at gunpoint until police arrive, according to law enforcement.
The motive for the attack is still unclear. Samson is a native of Sudan, moving to the United States in 1996.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society, according to the Department of Justice website.
Samson was treated at a local hospital and is now in police custody.