Prosecutors refused to file charges against the Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke or any other officer without warrant service, leading to the death of a 22-year-old black man in early February Went.
An officer shot Locke within seconds of entering the apartment, when prosecutors said Locke emerged from a couch with a handgun and pointed it toward an officer. Minneapolis SWAT team officers and others were serving warrants in a murder investigation.
"After a thorough review of all available evidence ... there is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case," according to a statement issued Wednesday by the county attorney and state attorney general.
At the time Locke was shot, prosecutors said he had legal possession of a firearm inside the apartment, but said it was not relevant to the investigation. Locke's action constitutes a "particularly obvious threat" after officers entered the apartment "on a judicially authorized search warrant," according to the statement from prosecutors.
"These circumstances are such that an objectively reasonable officer in the position of Officer (Mark) Hahnemann would have considered an immediate threat of death or major bodily harm, which was reasonably likely to have been caused, and an impartially proper officer would have considered the use of deadly force. Will not delay using." According to statements from Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman.
Locke's family lawyer, Jeff Storms, said it was a "disappointing day for the family".
"He just has such a strong belief that the incredible wrong that happened to Amir is going to save other lives," Storms told CNN. "They won't let the lack of criminal charges slow them down a bit."
Locke's mother said he was working as a food delivery driver and had a gun for security. She said her son was cremated because she did not want her son's remains to remain in Minneapolis.
"Did you think I was going to bury my son in the land of the place that killed him? No, wherever I go, my baby is going. I don't live in the Twin Cities. I left the Twin Cities." I took my son with me when I left the Twin Cities," said Karen Wells.
The Federation of Police Officers of Minneapolis praised prosecutors' decision, saying that Hahnemann "faced a deadly threat and had to make a split-decision to protect herself and others".
"MPD SWAT was executing a search warrant signed by a judge who authorized the use of a 'no knock' warrant," the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.
It added: "The use of deadly force by an officer is never taken lightly and weighs heavily on the officers involved. The incident was a tragedy for all involved and its lasting impact on the lives of many." Will have."
The shooting garnered national attention, as Minneapolis replaced Minneapolis as the epicenter of the country's most recent police-reform movement, prompting an arrest in 2020 by an officer from the same department that killed George Floyd. The video of that encounter went viral and sparked protests across America, sometimes violent and often involving the destruction of property, and sparked a debate over the role of police in American society.
City officials did not release much information in the days after an officer shot Locke, other than a 14-second video they said showed Locke with a gun. Locke was not named in the warrant; Locke's cousin.
Which video did they release, which showed an officer quietly sliding a key into the door of the apartment? As the door opens, a group of officers give a shouting order. Locked in the officers' apartment, Locke looked behind the couch, crouched under a blanket, lowered a handgun, and then pointed it toward the officer, who then shot him three times, as prosecutors made their decision. was announced.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Alison and Freeman said they met with Locke's family this morning and told them about their decision.
"We express our personal sympathy and sympathy with the family," Freeman said. "They, like us, are very disappointed with the no-knock warrant."
Heinemann, the officer who shot Locke, was wearing a body-worn camera and gave a written statement to investigators.
"I realized in this moment that if I did not use lethal force myself, I would be killed," he wrote. "There was no opportunity for me to change myself or to back down. There was no way for me to ease this situation. The threat to my life and the lives of my peers was imminent and dire."
A city spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that Heinemann returned to active duty on February 28, less than a month after Locke was shot. According to the spokesperson, "Officer Heinemann was assigned a role that was appropriate to the needs of the department and his service in the City of Minneapolis. That assignment does not include SWAT."
After Locke's death there were some fresh calls to end the practice of no-knock warrants, and many in leadership positions in departments and police advocacy groups have said that there is almost no circumstance where no-knock warrants exist. are suitable.
Ellison noted that her office was not allowed to evaluate the case "from the victim's point of view" and that it would be "immoral" to file charges in a case that would not prevail, as the law does not support criminal prosecution.
In their statement, Freeman and Ellison said Locke may be alive today "absent from the no-knock warrant used in this case." But he also said that his role in this investigation was not to evaluate the use of warrants – it was to look into murder to determine whether criminal charges were substantiated.
The Storms said the family still plans to go ahead with a civil trial and that the lack of criminal charges has "no impact" on that plan.
The shot death of Breonna Taylor during warrant service in Louisville reintroduced the dangers of warrants into the American consciousness. Ellison said that Locke's murder "demands reform, and I think it is appropriate for the community to create a policy that preserves life for all involved."
"I would add to this, no-knock warrants are not particularly safe even for officers. They have attendant risks on both sides, civilians and officers, so it's worth investigating and coming up with a policy that works," Ellison Said in the press conference.
The city received significant national media attention in November 2020 when it announced, amid a nationwide countdown on police policies inspired by the murder of Floyd and Taylor, it was changing its policy. Some touted as an "achievement" that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey banned no-knock warrants. But the city did not ban no-knock warrants outright, and like most police department policies, its policy gives field supervisors broad leeway to make decisions based on the circumstances facing them and, in some situations, no-knock warrants. -Knock warrant allows.
A policy announced after Locke's death required the city's police chief to approve no-knock warrant service. But on Tuesday night, Frey's office said a new policy would bar officers from executing no-knock warrants in most cases. According to a Tuesday statement from Frey's office, the policy would prohibit MPD from requesting no-knock search warrants and responding to requests for similar searches from other jurisdictions.