Prosecutors announced that the Minneapolis police officer that barged into Amir Locke‘s home and fatally shot him would not face any charges.
According to a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said there was “insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges” in the case. The prosecutors criticized the “no-knock warrant” but found no criminal wrongdoing in the case.
The attorneys released a statement. “Amir Locke’s life mattered. He should be alive today, and his death is a tragedy.”
On February 2, Amir Locke, 22, was shot and killed as members of the Minneapolis SWAT Team executed a search warrant without warning in connection to a homicide investigation.
According to the Washington Post, “Body-camera video released by Minneapolis police shows Locke apparently waking up as SWAT officers burst into the apartment, his body wrapped in a comforter and a bright light in his face. As Locke shifts his body to sit up, a gun is seen in his hand.”
Locke wakes up as SWAT officers barge into his apartment in the video. As he sits up from the bed, a gun is seen in his hand. Before the video stops, three gunshots are heard by officer Hanneman. Locke was hit twice in the chest, once in the wrist, and pronounced dead at the hospital. The video caused an uproar since Locke is a Black man, and it isn’t clear if officers asked him to drop his gun or if Locke’s gun was pointing at the officers. The video lasted for a brief 10 seconds.
Though police initially named Locke as a suspect, it was utterly wrong. He wasn’t named on the warrant that led to the shooting.
Washington Post reports when “asked why the police had initially described Locke as a ‘suspect,’ interim Minneapolis Police chief Amelia Huffman blamed a lack of information in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. But Locke’s parents accused the police department of trying to smear their son, whom they have said was licensed to carry a firearm. They said their son had been “executed” by the police.”
Minneapolis has a history of police brutality and brutal police tactics, as it’s the city where George Floyd was killed by a police officer who had his knee on Floyd’s body, making it impossible for him to breathe.
