WOODBINE, Ga. >> The family of a woman killed by gunfire last year as Georgia sheriff’s deputies with a drug warrant raided her cousin’s home announced a federal lawsuit Monday against the sheriff and others.

Attorneys for the family of 37-year-old Latoya James have argued her death echoes the fatal shooting in 2020 of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky. Both cases involved Black women killed in shootouts after law officers forced their way into darkened homes with little to no warning.

The civil lawsuit claims the deadly raid violated the slain woman’s civil rights. It was filed Sunday after the district attorney for coastal Camden County decided in April not to bring criminal charges against deputies in James’ death after concluding they were justified in using deadly force.

“I can never get her back,” the slain woman’s mother, Betty James, said through tears at a news conference Monday. “I got to hear her tell me ‘I love you, mommy’ for the last time the night before they took her life. And I can never hear that again. My family wants justice. We deserve justice.”

The lawsuit names Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor as a defendant as well as several deputies who took part in the fatal raid May 4, 2021. Filed on behalf of James’ 9-year-old daughter, the lawsuit seeks at least $25 million in damages. It argues deputies violated James’ rights by forcing entry without giving the home’s occupants time to answer their knock.