Cop safety cited in no-knock warrant ahead of Locke’s death
February 11, 2022 8:06AM CST
In this image taken from Minneapolis Police Department body camera video and released by the city of Minneapolis, 22-year-old Amir Locke wrapped in a blanket on a couch holding a gun moments before he was fatally shot by Minneapolis police as they were executing a search warrant in a homicide investigation on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, in Minneapolis. Authorities have not said if Locke was connected to the homicide investigation or named in the warrant. (Minneapolis Police Department via AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Documents show authorities searching the Minneapolis apartment where Amir Locke was killed by a SWAT team member said they believed a no-knock search warrant was necessary to protect the public and officers investigating a violent homicide.
The applications for the search warrants carried out at the apartment complex on Feb. 2 were made public in redacted form Thursday. In them, police said it was necessary to conduct the searches unannounced because the suspects had a history of violence. Locke was not named in the warrants.
The police killing of Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, has sparked a reexamination of the use of no-knock warrants and calls for a statewide ban.
