MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's Note: The above video originally aired on Feb. 10, 2022.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has confirmed that the Amir Locke death investigation has been sent to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. The county attorney's office, as well as State Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, will now review the case to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.
Locke, a 22-year-old Minneapolis man, was shot and killed on Feb. 2, 2022, by a Minneapolis Police officer while authorities were executing a search warrant of a downtown Minneapolis apartment.
Court documents say that the apartment was leased to Locke's cousin, 17-year-old Mekhi Speed, who was a suspect in a January St. Paul homicide.
According to search warrant documents that were released earlier this year, Speed was not present at the apartment being searched, or any of the locations listed on the warrants. He was later arrested in Winona in connection to the death of Otis Elder, who was shot and killed on Jan. 10 in St. Paul. Ramsey County prosecutors have filed a petition to have him charged as an adult on second-degree murder charges.
Nothing in the warrants that were released suggests Locke had anything to do with Elder's death or had any knowledge of the shooting.
Body camera video released showed Locke was asleep on the couch in one of the units entered by police and shot just seconds after police entered the apartment. The body cam video show Locke appearing to wake up, holding a gun as he starts to move before an officer shoots and kills him. The entire incident happens in a nine-second span.
The MPD later identified the officer who shot Locke as Mark Hanneman. No charges have been filed against Hanneman or any other officers involved in the fatal raid.