FBI Begins Probe Into Police Slaying of Woman

The FBI said Tuesday that it has begun a preliminary inquiry into the death of 19-year-old Tyisha Miller, who died after being shot 12 times by Riverside police on Dec. 28 while sitting in her disabled car.

Robert Messemer, a FBI spokesman, said the findings of that initial probe will be forwarded to the Justice Department to determine whether a full investigation into the shooting is warranted.

Messemer said the preliminary investigation would include both “an independent review of the facts of the case as well as a review of whatever investigation the police have undertaken.”

He would not say who or what prompted the inquiry into the shooting. The case has generated widespread media coverage and criticism of the Riverside Police Department by Miller’s relatives and some community activists.

Many critics of the shooting have said the officers who responded to the scene overreacted in shooting Miller, who was black. Four officers--three white and one Latino--and a white sergeant responded to a 911 call about a motorist in distress.

Police found Miller apparently unconscious in her locked, idling car at a Riverside gas station.

Police said Miller had a handgun on her lap. When officers were unable to awaken her and finally broke out her door window, she reached for the weapon, prompting the officers to open fire on her, police said.

A department spokesman initially said Miller fired her weapon first, but later recanted and said it was unclear whether she fired it at all.

The officers are on paid administrative leave.