Minnesota prosecutors said they will not pursue charges against the SWAT team officer who shot and killed 22-year-old Amir Locke during a no-knock search warrant at his apartment in February.
“There is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman in a joint statement shared by the Associated Press. “Specifically, the State would be unable to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt any of the elements of Minnesota’s use-of-deadly-force statute that authorizes the use of force by Officer [Mark] Hanneman.”
Hanneman was part of a SWAT team that executed a no-knock search warrant on Locke’s residence on Feb. 2. According to Locke’s family who reviewed bodycam footage following his death, Locke, who was Black, appeared to be sleeping on his couch when officers entered and startled him awake.
Authorities fired on Amir moments after they entered his residence, claiming he pointed a gun at them. The bodycam footage showed Locke was in possession of a legally-obtained firearm. Locke’s family questioned whether the gun was actually pointed at the officers, with his mother Karen Wells referring to her son’s death as an “execution.”
“You may have been found not guilty, but in the eyes of me, being the mother who I am, you are guilty,” Wells said on Wednesday. “You’re going to continue to be restless because the spirit of my baby is going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“Amir Locke is a victim,” Ellison and Freeman said. “This tragedy may not have occurred absent the no-knock warrant used in this case.”
The no-knock warrant was conducted as part of an ongoing homicide investigation in the city of St. Paul. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey formalized a moratorium on no-knock searches that will be put into effect on April 8, requiring officers to knock before entering a residence. The Minneapolis police department previously referred to Locke’s no-knock entrance as “necessary,” saying the officers involved were searching for multiple suspects who had a history of violence.
Locke was not named in the warrant, but his 17-year-old cousin Mekhi Camden Speed was. Speed was recently apprehended and charged with two counts of second-degree murder. The charges were in relation to the killing of 38-year-old Otis Elder, who was fatally shot and left lying in the street in what authorities believed was a robbery.
