Minneapolis released body-camera video Thursday night from the shooting of 22-year-old Amir Locke, who was killed early Wednesday morning during a SWAT team raid.
The video shows Locke asleep on a couch underneath a blanket in an apartment unit in the Bolero Flats Apartment Homes building on the 1100 block of Marquette Avenue South. As police approach the couch, Locke emerges from underneath the blanket with a handgun in his right hand.
“That’s the moment when the officer had to make a split-second decision to assess the circumstances and determine whether he felt like there was an articulable threat, that the threat was of imminent harm … and that he needed to take action right then to protect himself and his partners. Ultimately, that decision of whether that threshold was met will be examined by the county attorney’s office that reviews this case,” Interim Chief Amelia Huffman said during a press conference Thursday night.
Locke was shot three times and died at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
BREAKING: Minneapolis releases body-camera video from yesterday's police shooting of 22-year-old Amir Locke. (WARNING: Video is graphic.) pic.twitter.com/HBMItXLo5f
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) February 4, 2022
The SWAT team was executing a search warrant in connection to an ongoing St. Paul homicide investigation. They obtained both no-knock and knock warrants. The 50-second clip released by the city does not show police knocking.
Locke was not named in the original search warrant and it’s “unclear if or how he is connected to St. Paul’s investigation,” Huffman said.
The city identified the officer who shot Locke as Mark Hanneman. Huffman said the police department will conduct its own internal investigation of potential policy violations.
“There are multiple jurisdictions and multiple investigations bound up in this discussion and that makes information sharing extremely complicated,” she added.
Thursday night’s press conference was interrupted by activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who accused the chief of orchestrating a “coverup” and hiding “behind the St. Paul Police Department.” The chief was also asked why the police department identified Locke in a press release as a suspect, given that he was not named in the search warrants.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday morning that he has asked Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office to help review the case. Ellison’s staff led the prosecutions of both Derek Chauvin and Kim Potter.
“We will be working with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to ensure a thorough and complete evaluation,” Freeman said. “Thereafter we will decide together, based on the law and evidence, whether criminal charges should be brought.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
