As civil rights activists call for a full-scale U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the fatal shooting of Emantic Fitzgerald “EJ” Bradford Jr. by a Hoover police officer inside the Riverchase Galleria, federal officials in Birmingham said they have been involved since the beginning.

“This matter has been, and continues to be, under review by various civil rights components within the Department of Justice since these events occurred,” U.S. Attorney Jay Town told AL.com Friday. “The recent release of a 10-week investigation by the State of Alabama is now a part of that review by those components. Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall earlier this week released his report following a more than two-month State Bureau of Investigation into Bradford’s death. Marshall had the option to charge the unnamed officer, clear him or take the case to a grand jury for indictment consideration.

The 24-page report clearing the officer detailed what investigators believe happened the night Bradford was killed. The AG’s Office came to this conclusion: “After an extensive investigation and review, the Attorney General has determined Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law when he shot and killed E.J. Bradford and thus the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct preclude presentation of this case to a grand jury,” Marshall’s report states.

The ruling prompted outrage among activists.

Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, on Thursday said the group is asking for a DOJ investigation into Bradford’s shooting and the shooting of “so many other young black men in particular.”

“When you have an epidemic, you allocate resources to try and eradicate the problem,’’ Simelton said. “We have an epidemic of young black males being shot to death.”

Frank Matthews, president of the Outcast Voters League and chief adviser for the Birmingham Justice League, scheduled a protest for noon Saturday outside the Hugo Black federal courthouse.

“We’re protesting the decision made by Attorney General Marshall," Matthews said Thursday. "This will start a whole national push as we will criss-cross across the country talking about this decision that was made not to give the case of Emantic Bradford to the grand jury as well as other instances of police violence, brutality … all over the country that have been justified.”

Activists and civil rights groups also question Marshall’s move to assume jurisdiction over the Galleria shooting cases from Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr. In December, Marshall announced his office was assuming prosecutorial jurisdiction after the admission by Carr in a letter to Marshall of the presence of potential conflicts between himself and key parties in the case. Carr’s potential conflicts appeared to be his relationships with several of the organizers of ongoing protests over Bradford’s death.

The day after the Nov. 7 election, Carlos Chaverst Jr. posted on Facebook two photos of himself with Carr. Chaverst in 2017 had launched a petition for the governor to keep Carr as district attorney, netting more than 1,500 signatures.

Carr on Friday released his first public statement’s following Marshall’s ruling on the death.

“If the evidence in a case is clear that the shooting was legally justified, then a prosecutor would be ethically prohibited from presenting the case to a grand jury,’’ Carr wrote. “However, it is my belief that every officer-involved shooting, if after a full analysis of the evidence collected there remains any question to the legality of the shooting, then the presentation of the case to a grand jury would be appropriate.”

“Because my office was not presented with the evidence in this case,’’ he said, “I will not comment on the attorney general’s decision.”

“Mr. Bradford’s death is a tragedy,’’ Carr added, “and my heart goes out to his family and our community as we continue to grieve his loss.”

AL.com journalist Howard Koplowitz contributed to this report.