Sacramento police shooting: California DOJ joins investigation

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Tuesday announced that the California Department of Justice will be stepping in to provide independent oversight of the investigation into the shooting death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark.

Police Chief Daniel Hahn said he hopes it will bring "faith and transparency" as California's capital city reels from the March 18 shooting death.

"Due to the nature of this investigation, the extremely high emotions, anger and hurt in our city, I felt it was the best interest of our entire community including the members of our police department to ask the attorney general to be an independent part of this investigation," Hahn said.

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Becerra's office will provide oversight of the investigation and conduct a review of the police department's policies and training around use of force.

The family of Clark wants criminal charges brought against the two officers who shot Clark 20 times in his grandmother's backyard. He was suspected of breaking into cars. Police say they thought he had a gun in his hand, but it turned out to be a cellphone.

Becerra joined Hahn, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and community leaders at a news conference to announce the change in the investigation.

Tuesday night, hundreds of people are expected to show up at Sacramento's City Council meeting to protest the shooting. The council says it wants the city's police chief to speak and then turn the microphone over for public comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.