(NewsNation) — An Antioch, California, Police Department embroiled in a racist text scandal was hit with a federal lawsuit.

Five plaintiffs have accused officers of “malicious treatment” nearly two weeks after an investigative report alleged dozens of officers sent and received racist and derogatory text messages, NBC News reported.

The suit was filed by John Burris, an Oakland-based civil rights attorney known for his work exposing police brutality, in a U.S. District Court for Northern California on behalf of four individuals. The suit alleges the individuals were targeted by police officers who sent text messages using slurs to describe Black people and boasting about fabricating evidence and beating suspects.

A fifth plaintiff is suing on behalf of his father, who was shot and killed by two of the officers involved in the text scandal.

The text messages, which came out of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, have rocked residents of the racially diverse city some 45 miles east of San Francisco. They also prompted the county’s district attorney to undertake a review of criminal cases involving the department.

The texts include frequent use of the terms “monkey” and “gorilla,” and boast about beating up suspects and targeting Black people for traffic stops. In April 2020, one Antioch officer texted an officer at another police department: “Since we don’t have video I sometimes just say people gave me a full confession when they didn’t, get filed easier.”

The messages are largely from 2020 and 2021 and were sent by 17 named officers of the 100-person Antioch police force, including the president of the Antioch police union. The county public defender has said that nearly half of the department was included in the text chains, and nobody said anything.

Ben Nisenbaum, another lawyer who filed the suit, said in a statement that the city had allowed its police department to “run amok, letting open racism and brutality (be) its standard,” NBC reported.

The messages identified two of the plaintiffs by name, NBC reported.

The Antioch City Council voted this week to audit the police department. In a statement last week, Police Chief Steven Ford condemned the “racially abhorrent content and incomprehensible behavior being attributed to members of the Antioch Police Department in media reports,” NBC reported.

NBC reported Ford also apologized and said he had taken immediate action to ensure a thorough investigation.

The officers named in the investigation have not been charged with crimes. There is no timeline for its completion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.