The case of Amir Locke, a Black man shot and killed by Minneapolis police in a daybreak raid, is quickly gaining nationwide consideration as one other instance of reckless habits by regulation enforcement in a metropolis nonetheless coping with the aftermath of the homicide of George Floyd.
Locke, a twenty-two-year-old Black man, was asleep on the sofa in an condominium within the Balero Flats constructing downtown on Wednesday morning (February 2nd) in Minneapolis. In keeping with an announcement launched by the division, police entered the condominium at 6:48 A.M. performing on a search warrant on three residences within the constructing. In a follow-up press convention held later that day, interim police chief Amelia Huffman asserted that the officers “loudly and repeatedly introduced ‘police search warrant’ earlier than crossing the brink into the condominium.” The officers entered the lounge, kicking the sofa and awakening Locke who was wrapped in a blanket. As he stirred, he was shot twice within the chest and as soon as in the fitting wrist in accordance with medical experiences launched to the general public. He was given quick medical assist however died within the hospital shortly after. In keeping with Huffman, Locke had a firearm on him. A handgun was recovered on the scene, however Locke’s household knowledgeable reporters that he was licensed to hold a weapon within the state, and had no document of legal historical past. In addition they stated he didn’t stay in that condominium.
Town of Minneapolis then launched physique digital camera footage on Thursday which seems to have slight deviations from the preliminary accounting offered by the police chief. Lower than a minute in size, the video seems to point out that Locke was shot ten seconds after officers entered the condominium. At a press convention held after the discharge of the footage, lawyer and neighborhood activist Nakeia Levy Armstrong testily challenged Huffman’s statements in addition to Mayor Jacob Frey who was current, accusing them of shifting the narrative. She additionally said that Locke was not named among the many three suspects within the authentic search warrant. Benjamin Crump, who is without doubt one of the attorneys representing the Locke household, wrote in an announcement that Locke’s killing is just like the killing of Breonna Taylor, the younger Black girl EMT shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky in Could 2020.
