Feds Investigate Teen's Mysterious Death
WHITFIELD: A Georgia man will be charged for accidentally setting fire to his wife by flicking his lighter near a gas pump.</s>WHITFIELD (voice-over): The video is shocking and it was all caught on surveillance camera at this gas station -- right here the couple -- as you see it right there, standing outside their truck near the nozzle when flames shot out. The woman suffered second and third degree burns. Her husband faces one count of reckless conduct. A man was shot on campus during homecoming weekend at North Carolina A&T; State University. Police in Greensboro are now searching for four suspects; officials say the 21-year-old victim is expected to be OK. The university was locked down for about a half an hour after the shooting last night.</s>WHITFIELD: And major developments in a case that CNN has been digging into for more than six months now. A U.S. attorney announced that he is launching a federal investigation into the death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson. Johnson was found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at his high school in Valdosta, Georgia, in January. Officials say Johnson suffocated after falling into the gym mat while reaching for a shoe. But his parents believe he was murdered. CNN's Victor Blackwell has been on top of this story for more than six months now, and I asked Victor how federal investigators plan to move forward.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: The U.S. attorney says it's a combination of a review and an investigation. So he and the FBI will be looking at the original investigation from local authorities, but also, they're going to go out and conduct their own interviews. I spoke with a former FBI special agent and he says they're going to treat this like a cold case, in many ways, going out, trying to find the people who were in the gym, around that gym, and knew the basic facts. So they'll create their own investigation as well.</s>WHITFIELD: There are an awful lot of inconsistencies, everything from deeming it accidental, and then suddenly, OK, it looks like foul play was involved, and even the condition of Kendrick's body. How will federal authorities go about that? Does it appear as though there may be a sophisticated cover-up and that being part of the federal investigation?</s>BLACKWELL: Well, that's what the family believes. They believe that this was a cover-up. And we've reported that. We do not know, because that statement from the U.S. attorney was very carefully written, what the specific impetus, what that one detail was that initiated the investigation. But we do know that there's a possibility that there could be another exhumation. In my conversations with the former FBI specialist, he says that there is the one from the state, the autopsy, and then the private autopsy; maybe the FBI lab will want their own autopsy. So a third to kind of find out which one of these is more in the right direction of what actually happened.</s>WHITFIELD: Some of those things are long term. What's next immediately?</s>BLACKWELL: What's next? The authorities, FBI, will be going into Valdosta and starting to have conversations with the officials there, the investigators, and the people in the community. We also know at the local level, we're expecting an announcement from the coroner to decide if he will open an inquest, which would gather a jury of six people; they would listen to testimony, look at evidence, and determine if Kendrick's death was an accident or a homicide. If it's deemed homicide, it changes his death certificate, and that could start a parallel local investigation to find the person responsible.</s>WHITFIELD: Victor Blackwell, thanks so much. Keep us posted on this.</s>BLACKWELL: Sure will.</s>WHITFIELD: The president is definitely trying to get his agenda back on track. But these GOP senators are putting up some roadblocks. Who are they and why are they doing this? CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley joins us next with answers.