Amir Locke shooting: Second teenager arrested in police investigation

Mr Locke did not live at the apartment and was not named in the warrant

A second teen has been arrested in connection with the death of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was killed when a SWAT officer fatally shot him.

A 16-year-old boy in Ramsey County has been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Mr Locke's 17-year-old cousin has also been charged in the 10 January killing of Otis Elder.

SWAT members were conducting a no-knock warrant raid searching for the 17-year-old when they burst into a Minneapolis apartment where Mr Locke was staying and shot him.

Video taken from police body cameras show officers entering the house without knocking and yelling “Police! Search warrant!”

Mr Locke was wrapped in a blanket on a couch at the time of the raid. He was not named in the search warrant and was not a suspect in the investigation.

The body camera footage shows a SWAT officer walking up to the couch and kicking it, which startles Mr Locke. The man had a gun on him at the time, which prompted police officers to fire at least three shots at Mr Locke, killing him.

Minneapolis police claimed that Mr Locke pointed the gun at the police before they shot him. However, Mr Locke’s family – as well as racial justice advocates – question that description of events.

Mr Locke’s death prompted a round of protests and numerous calls for the prohibition of no-knock warrants.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced that he would issue a moratorium on no-knock warrants until the city’s policies were reviewed. He said the city plans to enlist specialists to review the policies and offer recommendations for changes.

Jeff Storms, an attorney representing Mr Locke’s family, said the warrants were overused in the city.

“It’s become clear that no-knock warrants continue to be overly sought by the Minneapolis Police Department and overly granted,” he told The New York Times.

He pointed out that no-knock warrants also became a flashpoint in Breonna Taylor’s story. Ms Taylor was killed in 2020 when police conducted a no-knock warrant at her boyfriend’s apartment, where she was staying the night. She was shot six times by police officers who fired a total of 32 rounds during the raid.

Mr Storms claims Mr Locke wasn’t pointing the gun at anyone at the time he was shot.

“It’s very clear that when Amir grabbed the gun he grabbed it in such a manner that he did not know whether or not he would shoot,” Mr Storms said. “Amir utilized good trigger discipline and the officer didn’t.”