Chicago's department is the latest to be in the spotlight for shooting a black man, which critics say is evidence of a long history of the city's police using excessive force on minorities.
The Justice Department will look into the Chicago Police Department's use of force and the accountability within the department of officers who use excessive force.
The department's Civil Rights Division will examine whether Chicago police have engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminatory or unconstitutional policing, sources tell NPR's Carrie Johnson.
A day after Hillary Clinton called for a Justice Department investigation into Chicago police's handling of the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Mayor Rahm Emanuel reversed course to support one.
The FBI alerted the university that a threat of gun violence — at a specific time and location — had been made online, the school said in a statement. All events on the main campus are canceled.
City and federal investigators showed a lack of urgency in dealing with the case, critics say. Local columnist and editor Carol Marin pins part of the blame on "the feds" and President Obama.
Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times in October 2014, after he refused to follow officers' instructions as he walked down a street with a knife. The officer who shot him has been charged with murder.
Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was found dead of a gunshot wound in September. Local and federal authorities launched a massive manhunt, and now investigators have concluded Gliniewicz shot himself.