Activist calls for probe into woman's shooting

~ The woman was shot during gunfight with police.

ATLANTA -- A civil rights activist representing the family of an elderly woman killed in a gunfight with police is calling for a federal investigation into her death.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins will go to Washington on Monday to deliver a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting that the Department of Justice and FBI review the shootout, Hutchins said in a news release Thursday.

Kathryn Johnston, who police said was 92, was killed Tuesday evening by narcotics agents. Authorities said the agents got a search warrant for her home after buying drugs from a man there that afternoon. Police said the plainclothes agents identified themselves, but when they knocked down Johnston's door, she opened fire and injured three of the officers.

All are expected to recover.

"This horrific incident has all the signs of an egregious violation of Ms. Johnston's civil and human rights at worst and police officers using poor judgment and unnecessary force at best," Hutchins said.

Johnston's neighbors and relatives have called the raid a case of mistaken identity. Her niece said there were no drugs in the home.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said his office has launched its own investigation, but said a preliminary review of the case shows the officers had a legal right to search the home.