MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis police SWAT team officer who fatally shot Amir Locke while executing a no-knock search warrant in a downtown apartment in February will not face charges.
Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced
Wednesday that they are declining to file criminal charges in the case.
While confirming that Locke was a victim in the case and not under criminal investigation or named in the no-knock search warrant, Freeman and Ellison said there is “insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case.”
“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 Hanneman. Nor would the State be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a criminal charge against any other officer involved in the decision-making that led to the death of Amir Locke,” according to the statement from Freeman and Ellison.
Locke, 22, was killed seconds after the SWAT team entered the apartment where he was staying without knocking as part of an investigation into a homicide case in St. Paul, The Associated Press reported. Body camera video showed several officers entering the apartment using a key. Once the officers spot Locke, who was wrapped in a comforter on the couch, they repeatedly shout, “Police, search warrant!” They also shout “Hands!” and “Get on the ground!”
Body camera footage shows Locke holding a gun before he was shot. Officers said the gun was pointed in their direction, but Locke’s family questioned that accusation. Karen Wells, Locke’s mother, says it appears from the body camera footage that her son was startled awake. She called his death “an execution.”
Locke’s death sparked protests and calls for investigating the use of no-knock search warrants, The Associated Press reported. In response, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced an immediate moratorium on such warrants. A new policy was announced in March that requires officers to knock and wait before entering a residence when carrying out a search warrant.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.