BCA sends Amir Locke case to Hennepin County Attorney
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirms that they have sent Amir Locke case file to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to be reviewed for possible charges.
Locke was shot and killed by Minneapolis police officer Mark Hanneman on February 7 when officers raided the apartment Locke was sleeping in.
The apartment was leased to Locke’s cousin Mekhi Speed who was wanted in connection to a murder in St. Paul.
No charges have been filed against the officer yet.
Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted Derek Chauvin and Kim Potter said his office is assisting Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s Office in making a charging decision.
Background on shooting
Just before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2, the Minneapolis SWAT team entered apartment 701 at the Bolero Flats in downtown Minneapolis to execute a no-knock search warrant in connection with a January homicide in St. Paul.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department incident report, the SWAT team went to two apartments on the 14th floor before gaining entrance to the unit on the seventh by using a fob and "loudly" announcing their presence.
MPD says about nine seconds "into the entry," they encountered a man holding a handgun pointed "in the direction of officers." Mark Hanneman, a member of the eight-person SWAT team, fired at the man, striking him three times – twice in the chest and once on the right wrist, according to the incident report.
Controversy has surrounded the fact that all available information indicates Locke was not named in the search warrant that led to his fatal encounter, and he was a legally registered firearm owner, according to his family.
Amir Locke shooting: Unsealed search warrant shows police concerned raid could turn violent
The courts have now unsealed the search warrants connected to last week’s deadly SWAT team raid in a downtown Minneapolis apartment complex. That is where Amir Locke was shot and killed as law enforcement agencies investigated a murder case out of St. Paul.
Bodycam video released
Shortly after the shooting on Feb. 2, MPD released images of the gun and ammo recovered inside the Bolero Flats apartment.
But following calls from the public as both news and rumor began to spread, graphic body camera video of the incident was released to the public around 7 p.m. on Feb. 3.
MPD body camera video released of police shooting, killing of Amir Locke
TRIGGER WARNING: This video is graphic and is not suitable for young people or sensitive viewers. Viewers, please use your own discretion. Thursday evening, the mayor of Minneapolis released MPD body camera video of the police shooting and killing of an armed man in a downtown apartment Wednesday. Community members and police reports have identified the man killed as Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man.
The video is 54 seconds total, in which the first 29 seconds was edited in slow motion, the next nine seconds was edited to be extra slowed, and the last 15 seconds shows the video in real-time.
Contrary to previous statements made by MPD interim police chief Amelia Huffman before its release, the video shows that police did not announce themselves until after opening the apartment door.
The video shows Locke was armed – his family later saying he was carrying legally – however, it's not clear in the video if the gun was "pointed in the direction of officers," as MPD wrote in its initial news release to the public.