Minneapolis police shooting: Family of Amir Locke, killed in no-knock raid, sues city

MINNEAPOLIS — The mother and father of Amir Locke, who was shot to demise by a Minneapolis police officer when a SWAT group executed a no-knock search warrant one 12 months in the past, sued the town and the officer Friday, alleging he was “gunned down in chilly blood” in violation of his constitutional rights.

Locke, 22, who was Black and had hoped to construct a profession as a hip-hop artist, was sleeping on a sofa in his cousin’s downtown house when authorities entered with out knocking Feb. 2, 2022, as a part of an investigation right into a murder in neighboring St. Paul, during which Locke was not a suspect. Physique digicam video confirmed that Locke was holding a gun earlier than he was shot seconds after the officers burst in.

“This has acquired to cease,” Locke’s mom, Karen Wells, stated at a information convention. “Amir would be the face of banning no-knock warrants. He is not going to die in useless.”

Prosecutors declined final April to cost any of the officers concerned, saying the video confirmed that Locke pointed a gun at Officer Mark Hanneman, justifying his use of lethal drive.

However the lawsuit, filed in federal court docket by attorneys Ben Crump and Jeff Storms, alleges that Hanneman acted too rapidly when he fired thrice. And it disputes the official assertions that Locke pointed his gun at officers. It seeks unspecified damages and the appointment of an official to make sure that the town correctly trains and supervises its officers.

“Amir, like many Individuals, had a handgun inside his attain whereas he slept. Even half-asleep, whereas Amir reached for the handgun, he demonstrated correct and accountable dealing with by conserving the handgun pointed away from the officers and conserving his finger off the set off. Amir by no means raised the weapon within the course of any officer or positioned his finger on the set off,” the criticism stated.

“Any affordable officer would have understood that Amir wanted a possibility to appreciate who and what was surrounding him, after which present Amir with a possibility to disarm himself. Hanneman failed to present Amir any such alternative despite the fact that Amir by no means pointed the handgun at Hanneman or put his finger on the set off,” the criticism continued.

Crump, who has been dubbed “Black America’s legal professional normal,” has gained multimillion-dollar settlements in quite a few police brutality instances, together with $27 million for the household of George Floyd, whose killing by a Minneapolis officer sparked a nationwide looking on race.

“The Metropolis will evaluate the Criticism when it receives it,” metropolis spokesman Casper Hill stated in an e mail.

Amir Locke’s household in Chicago space requires finish to ‘no knock’ search warrants

Wells in contrast the video exhibiting her son’s demise to the video that she compelled herself to look at of the beating demise of Tyre Nichols by police in Memphis, Tennessee, “one other individual dying by the fingers of people who stated they’re right here to guard and serve. … This will’t occur once more.”

Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison and then-Hennepin County Legal professional Michael Freeman stated once they declined prices that Locke may not have been shot if not for the no-knock warrant. However they stated there was inadequate proof to show past an affordable doubt that Hanneman violated state regulation on when police can use lethal drive.

Locke was killed through the trial of three former Minneapolis cops in federal court docket in St. Paul on civil rights prices within the homicide of Floyd. Locke’s demise rekindled mistrust of police and sparked recent protests over policing and racism.

And it led Mayor Jacob Frey to sharply limit no-knock warrants, requiring officers to knock and wait earlier than getting into, with restricted exceptions. Whereas some lawmakers referred to as for a statewide ban on no-knock warrants, the proposal died within the Legislature final 12 months. Some lawmakers have expressed curiosity in bringing it again.

The criticism alleges that using the no-knock warrant that led to Locke’s demise was “in step with Minneapolis’s customized, sample and observe of racial discrimination in policing.” And it alleges that police officers ought to have identified from earlier authorized actions and citizen complaints involving Hanneman that he did not perceive division insurance policies or constitutional rights.

Locke was killed seconds after the SWAT group entered at 6:48 a.m. The physique digicam video confirmed one officer unlocking the door and getting in, adopted by a minimum of 4 uniformed officers in protecting gear. They repeatedly shouted, “Police, search warrant!” Additionally they shouted “Fingers!” and “Get on the bottom!”

The edited video, launched the day after, confirmed an officer kicking a sectional couch, and Locke was proven wrapped in a comforter, holding a pistol. Three photographs had been heard and the video ended.

“I used to be satisfied that the person was going to fireside their handgun and that I might endure nice bodily hurt or demise,” Hanneman wrote in his assertion to investigators. “I felt on this second that if I didn’t use lethal drive myself, I might seemingly be killed.”

Crump has beforehand in contrast Locke’s demise with that of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a botched police raid in Kentucky in 2020 during which her boyfriend shot at officers first as they broke into her house.

“We must always have discovered from Breonna Taylor,” Storms stated on the information convention. “We had an opportunity to not make the error ourselves. We had the discover as a metropolis. … So we do not study from our errors and we do not study from the well-publicized errors of others.”

Locke’s cousin, Mekhi Camden Pace, who was 17 on the time of the raid, pleaded responsible final Might to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional homicide whereas committing the felony of aggravated theft for the Jan. 10, 2022, killing of Otis Elder, 38.

The video within the participant above is from an earlier report.