Court Allows Amir Locke Lawsuit to Proceed: Black Man Shot to Death by Minneapolis Cop During Early Morning Raid. No Charges from “Black” Prosecutor

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled a lawsuit against a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Amir Locke three years ago can move forward.

Amir Locke was sleeping on his cousin’s couch in Minneapolis on the morning of Feb. 2, 2022, when a SWAT team burst into the room. Locke, who was not the person officers were looking for was fatally shot by officer Mark Hanneman about eight seconds after police entered, according to the complaint. 

Locke’s parents, Karen Wells and Andre Locke, sued the city of Minnesota last year, alleging that their son’s constitutional rights were violated, that the Minneapolis Police Department failed to adequately train officers and that the department has a history of using excessive force and no-knock warrants against people of color.

In an interview with MPR News on Friday, a lawyer for the Locke family said the body camera footage is murky.

“He was not given the opportunity to save himself,” said attorney Jeff Storms. “And we see, obviously, support for those arguments by us and what we believe to be the truth.”

Two months after Locke’s death, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that they would not criminally charge Hanneman for Locke’s killing, saying that state law gives officers wide discretion in using lethal force if they believe someone was being threatened with death or great bodily harm.  [MORE]

On February 2, 2022, police unlocked and opened a door with a key to an apartment at approximately 6:48 a.m. Police body camera footage reviewed by reporters "showed several officers quickly rushing into the apartment at the same time", several yelling "Police! Search warrant!", one officer yelling "Hands, hands!", and another yelling "Get on the ground!" Locke was lying on a couch wrapped in a blanket,and an officer kicked the couch. Locke then sat up and turned toward the officers while holding a gun, and in a still image released by police, his trigger finger is along the barrel of the gun, not the trigger. Hanneman then shot him twice in the chest and once in the wrist. The time from when police entered the unit, to when Locke was shot, was less than 10 seconds.[21]

Locke was treated at the scene and transported to Hennepin Healthcare, where emergency medics pronounced him dead at 7:01 a.m