The American Embassy says the Justice Department has opened an investigation into the killings of two Pakistani men by a CIA contractor in Pakistan.

The statement Wednesday came hours after the contractor, Raymond Allen Davis, was released from prison. A Pakistani lawyer for the families of the two victims in the Jan. 27 shooting says the United States paid $2.34 million in "blood money."

The U.S. statement thanked the families for their "generosity" but did not mention any money paid.