No charges in no-knock warrant killing of Amir Locke

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota prosecutors have declined to file charges against a Minneapolis police SWAT team officer who fatally shot Amir Locke while executing an early morning no-knock search warrant in February.

The 22-year-old Locke was staying on a couch in an apartment when authorities entered it without knocking as part of an investigation into a homicide. Locke was not named in the warrant.

Authorities said he was shot seconds after he pointed a gun in the direction of officers. Locke’s family has questioned that. Body camera footage shows Locke holding a gun before he was shot.

“An objectively reasonable officer in Officer Hanneman’s position would have perceived an immediate threat of death or great bodily harm that was reasonably likely to occur, and an objectively reasonable officer would not delay in using deadly force,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said.

Locke’s death sparked protests and a reexamination of no-knock search warrants in Minneapolis and beyond.