In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who co-examined the case, said there was “insufficient evidence to prosecute” the case. They said they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Mark Hanneman, who fatally shot Locke, had violated state law on the use of deadly force authorizing officers to use such force. Prosecutors also said they found no criminal record in the verdict that led to Locke’s fatal shooting, but strongly criticized the use of a no-hit warrant. “The life of Amir Locke was important,” Ellison and Freeman said in a statement. “He should be alive today and his death is a tragedy.” Locke, a 22-year-old black man, was shot and killed Feb. 2 as members of the Minneapolis Police SWAT team carried out a warrant for a homicide investigation in nearby St. Paul. The video from the body camera released by the Minneapolis police shows Lock apparently waking up as SWAT police officers stormed the apartment, with his body wrapped in a quilt and a bright light on his face. As Lock moves his body to sit, he sees a gun in his hand. Three shots are fired – all by Hanneman – before the video stops. Locke was hit twice in the chest and once in the wrist and was pronounced dead at the hospital. It is not clear from the video if the gun was aimed at the police or if someone ordered him to drop it before being shot. The chaotic incident lasted less than 10 seconds. Broken Doors: A Six-Part Research Podcast of How Warning Doomsday Develops in the US Justice System Locke did not live in the apartment where he was killed. It was rented by the girlfriend of Mekhi Speed’s older brother, a suspect in the St. Paul homicide investigation. Speed and his mother, Cheryl Locke, lived in another apartment in the same building, which was also searched by police in coordinated raids during the same period. Police initially described Locke as a suspect, but later said he was wrong. Locke was not named in the warrant that led to the shooting. Asked why police had initially described Locke as a “suspect”, interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman blamed the lack of information immediately after the shooting. But Locke’s parents accused the police department of trying to stain their son, who was licensed to carry a weapon. They said that their son was “executed” by the police. The murder has sparked an ongoing debate over policing in Minneapolis, a city still rocked by the murder of George Floyd by police nearly two years ago. The department is currently being researched by standards and practices from the Department of Civil Rights of the Ministry of Justice. Floyd’s assassination sparked almost universal calls for police reform. But Minneapolis remains deeply divided over how to get there. Last fall, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have replaced the police station with a new service, amid fears it would further curtail public security efforts amid many departures of officers and growing violent crime. Mayor Jacob Frey, who was re-elected in November, has pledged to make public safety the focus of his new term, stressing his plans to transform policing by rebuilding the reduced section with new officers and embracing ” necessary »reforms. But he has repeatedly complained about reforms being circumvented or blocked by state and federal policing regulations. In the aftermath of Floyd’s death, Frey enacted a policy against the use of no-hit commands in Minneapolis, which his campaign described as a “ban.” However, critics say the policy formulation still allows police to use such warrants. On Tuesday, Frey implemented a new policy that, he said, prohibits Minneapolis police from filing a search warrant or conducting search warrants. However, the latest ban, which takes effect on Friday, still allows for exceptions for “demanding circumstances”, including when police deem it possible for “imminent damage” or “imminent destruction or removal of evidence”.
