The FBI has opened an investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old killed in suburban St. Louis over the weekend.

Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed in Ferguson, a small city outside St. Louis, on Saturday afternoon. His death prompted a series of protests and vigils, with some protests taking a violent turn on Sunday night as people looted in the Ferguson area.

“We have initiated a civil rights investigation,” Cheryl Mimura, spokeswoman for the FBI in St. Louis, told The Washington Post on Monday morning.

This does not mean that the FBI is taking over the investigation, as was reported earlier in the day by the Associated Press. Rather, this is a separate investigation to see if there were any civil rights violations, Mimura said.

The FBI will continue to monitor the investigation that is being carried out by the St. Louis County Police Department. That department was asked by the police in Ferguson to handle the investigation into the shooting.

The day after a police officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, demonstrators held a rally and vigil in Ferguson, Mo. Looting followed. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)