Warning: the footage included in this article is graphic.
Police bodycam footage has been released showing the fatal shooting of Amir Locke, who was killed during the execution of a no-knock search warrant.
The Minneapolis Police Department released video of the Feb. 2 shooting on Thursday and identified Mark Hanneman as the officer who fatally shot Locke. In the video, police are seen executing the warrant with weapons drawn. Locke is then seen on a couch and beneath a blanket, with the officer firing at him shortly after police first enter the residence.
Per a regional report from KARE 11 that cites law enforcement sources, police in St. Paul “did not request a no-knock warrant from a judge.” When Minneapolis police were enlisted to execute the warrant, however, the department allegedly “insisted” the warrant be altered to allow for its execution without knocking.
While police have placed a focus on 22-year-old Locke having been (in their words) “armed with a handgun pointed in the direction of officers” at the time, his family—per the Associated Press—told civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong that Locke was a licensed gun owner. Furthermore, according to AP, Locke “didn’t live” in the apartment where the warrant was executed, nor was he named on the no-knock warrant itself. Police said in an initial press release that the warrant was being executed for the St. Paul Police Department’s homicide unit.
In comments regarding the release of bodycam footage, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (as seen around the 2:14 mark in the video below) said that it “raises about as many questions as it does answers.”
“Like the case of Breonna Taylor, the tragic killing of Amir Locke shows a pattern of no-knock warrants having deadly consequences for Black Americans,” Attorney Ben Crump, who alongside Jeff Storms has been retained by Locke’s family, said in a statement released Friday. “This is yet another example of why we need to put an end to these kinds of search warrants so that one day, Black Americans will be able to sleep safely in their beds at night. We will continue pushing for answers in this case so that Amir’s grieving family can get the closure they deserve.”
