Photo courtesy of CBS Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Police Department released the footage of them murdering Amir Locke after serving a no-knock warrant on Feb. 2. The 22-year-old victim was not the target of the warrant.
Officer Mark Hanneman shot Amir Locke in the early morning hours on Feb. 2 at the Balero Flats apartment building. According to the Minneapolis police, a loaded handgun found at the scene belonged to Locke, who had a licensed firearm and no criminal history.
The disturbing footage shows the police entering Locke’s apartment. Locke is wrapped up in a blanket laying on his couch. As he turned towards the officers, they opened fire. The whole shooting happened ten seconds after the police burst through his door.
Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman said that the police were executing multiple warrants as a part of an investigation with the St. Paul Police Department homicide division. Several suspects were reportedly living in the building where Locke was shot to death.
Huffman said that Hanneman only had seconds to make “a split decision.” Huffman also confirmed that Locke was not listed on any warrant.
Protests that broke out in the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul following Locke’s murder are eerily reminiscent of the protests following the murder of George Floyd. At least 1000 people showed up in the cold to protest no-knock warrants at the Hennepin County Government Center on Feb. 5. Protesters also marched downtown in the cold, calling for the officers involved to be fired and arrested.
Andre Locke, Amir’s father, spoke out for his son.
“I’m going to make this clear, because we aren’t police bashers,” he said. “We don’t do that. We have too many family members. There’s great officers that are white. There’s great officers period, but they have bad seeds. They have the bad seeds and those bad seeds are the ones who don’t need to be in our communities.”
Mayor Jacob Frey had promised to restrict the practice after the death of Breonna Taylor in St. Louis but had not yet done so. Protesters marched while chanting, “Frey lied, Amir died.” Frey promised that he would ban no-knock warrants on Feb. 5.