Read the family's lawsuit:
 Affidavit 1
 Affidavid 2

Related stories:
 Victim's family claims MPD planted gun at scene

Community activists want federal investigators to step in after they say they’ve lost confidence in the Minneapolis Police Department.

The controversy started Monday, when lawyers for the family of Fong Lee accused the department of planting a gun near Lee's body in an attempt to justify his officer-involved shooting death in 2006.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, or ATF, says the agency was asked to run a trace on a gun in Lee’s case—to find out where it came from—but his family is asking for far more intervention.

On July 22, 2006—Lee and Minneapolis Police officers became entwined in an altercation, after police claim Lee was in the middle of a drug or weapon deal. Lee then took off with an officer close behind him.

While a surveillance video from a nearby school captured these scenes, it doesn’t show the final confrontation—Officer Jason Anderson shoots and kills Lee, saying he had a gun.

Lee’s family says he didn’t have a gun and that police later planted a weapon at the scene to make the shooting look justified.

"They’re going to do everything they can possibly do to still try to find a way to cover that up, and this is why we're asking the U.S. Justice Department to step in," explained Clyde Bellecourt.

Bellecourt used to co-chair the Police Community Relations Council before it disbanded this year. Most of its former members are sending a letter asking the ATF to investigate what they're calling ‘a cover up.’

A police spokesman told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the department couldn’t comment because of the civil lawsuit. But people familiar with the investigation and police reports maintain the gun found by Lee’s body was stolen from a homeowner in 2004 and was never in police possession until that day.

At that time, the Minneapolis Police Department ruled the shooting justified and a grand jury closed the case.

"Nobody in town believes them, particularly not in our communities. Nobody in our community believes that," Bellecourt said.

The spokeswoman for the ATF says she’s unaware of any investigation into Lee’s case begun by the bureau.

The civil lawsuit is scheduled for trial next month.