The FBI has opened a review of the raid in which  a SWAT team  mistakenly stormed the Berwyn Heights mayor’s home without knocking and shot his two black Labrador retrievers.

The review came at the request of Mayor Cheye Calvo, who on Thursday formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice also to investigate his case and other instances in which Prince George’s County law enforcement officials knocked down residents’ doors without having proper warrants.

FBI spokesman Richard Wolf said federal agents will monitor the investigation into the raid, which is being conducted by Prince George’s County because of the “totality” of the circumstances surrounding the raid.

Calvo, standing with his wife, Trinity Tomsic, said he would not have believed law enforcement officials could be capable of such wanton disregard of residents’ rights “if we hadn’t seen it for ourselves.”

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“We have witnessed a frightening law enforcement culture in which the law is disregarded, the rights of innocent occupants are ignored and the rights of innocent animals mean nothing,” Calvo said.

Calvo said it was too early to talk about seeking monetary damages.

Authorities have said Calvo and his family were likely innocent victims of a drug smuggling scheme in which packages of drugs were intercepted by deliverymen.

It was the second time in more than a month that Prince George’s County law enforcement authorities made national headlines under embarrassing circumstances. On June 29, an inmate suspected of killing a police officer was found dead in his jail cell shortly after his arrest.

Last week, a Prince George’s County sheriff’s SWAT team raided the mayor’s home and shot two of the Calvo family pets, Payton and Chase.

Calvo heard his mother-in-law scream, heard the front door being broken open and then heard a gunshot, he said.

“I thought our home was being invaded,” Calvo said. “I feared for my life.”

Calvo, wearing only underwear, and his mother-in-law were tied up by law enforcement officers for about two hours, he said.

Prince George’s authorities initially claimed to have a “no knock” warrant, issued by judges who believe knocking would endanger officers or give suspects time to destroy evidence.

But the warrant indicates that police never asked or received a warrant to enter without knocking.

A law enforcement source said that it would be unusual for the Department of Justice to investigate a civil rights case involving a single incident in which no people were injured.

Police said the Calvos were likely victims of a scheme in which packages of marijuana were sent to unsuspecting residents and were picked up by a deliveryman.

Sheriff Michael Jackson and Police Chief Melvin High have not apologized for the raid, saying their officers acted appropriately.

Five or six other innocent residents were victims in the scheme, police said. Two men have been arrested in the marijuana shipping plot.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com