No charges in Amir Locke's fatal US police shooting

WASHINGTON

Prosecutors announced Wednesday they would not be bringing charges against the Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke in February during an early-morning raid.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman said in a statement they are declining to charge Mark Hanneman, the officer who shot and killed Locke.

Locke, who was Black, was killed when police executed a no-knock warrant early Feb. 2. Bodycam video of the police raid shows an officer sliding a key into Locke's apartment door before barging in while yelling "police search warrant!"

As police move in to the apartment they close in on a couch where Locke was lying in a blanket. An officer kicks the couch and Locke begins to rise with what may have been a gun his family said he legally owned before three shots ring are fired.

Locke was not a suspect in the investigation that led to the raid nor was he named in the warrant, according to authorities.

Ellison's office said Locke "should be alive today," and said his death is a "tragedy."

"Amir Locke is a victim. This tragedy may not have occurred absent the no-knock warrant used in this case," Ellison and Freeman said.

"After a thorough review of all available evidence, however, there is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case. Specifically, the State would be unable to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt any of the elements of Minnesota’s use-of-deadly-force statute that authorizes the use of force by Officer Hanneman," it added.