(CNN) The suspect in Saturday's deadly vehicle incident in Charlottesville, James Fields Jr., may have intended to send a message -- and not just harm the immediate victims, according to a Justice Department official familiar with the investigation. The official says that while Fields' motive is not yet clear, federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to be suspicious that he wanted to send a message.

This point will be important in determining whether the case gets deemed a domestic terrorism case; domestic terrorism includes criminal acts that are dangerous to human life and appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.

Investigators are also working to determine if others may have been involved in planning the attack, according to the official.

While the District Attorney's Office has already charged Fields with multiple offenses, including second degree murder, federal charging decisions have not been made because investigators are still gathering evidence to determine whether federal hate crime charges are applicable, according to the official.

The Justice Department and FBI have devoted a massive amount of manpower to the case, with scores of federal officials working with local law enforcement partners in Charlottesville, and also in Maumee, Ohio, where Fields lived, according to the official.

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