Minnesota ACLU calls for MPD officer who fatally shot Amir Locke to be fired
The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for the officer who fatally shot Amir Locke during a no-knock warrant in a Minneapolis apartment building to be fired.
The ACLU of Minnesota announced Thursday that it was joining the NAACP in calling for the firing of Minneapolis Police Department SWAT team Officer Mark Hanneman, who killed Locke on Feb. 2.
In the statement, the ACLU of Minnesota claims the officer used unreasonable force during the incident, violating MPD policy.
Body camera footage from the incident shows officers quietly unlock the door of the Bolero Apartments unit where Locke was. They only announce their presence as they enter the unit.
Hanneman shot and killed 22-year-old Locke within nine seconds of entering the apartment. Locke was wrapped in a blanket and appeared to be sleeping on the couch. He had a visible gun on him, which his family says he was permitted to carry, but he was not pointing it in the direction of any officers.
The officers were executing a search warrant related to a St. Paul homicide, which included three units in the building. Locke’s name does not appear anywhere on the application for the warrants, with officers searching for one of Locke's cousins, who does not live at the apartment where Locke was staying.
“Under MPD Policy, the officer must be able to articulate with specificity why they believed that Locke was going to shoot them with the gun and that belief must be objectively reasonable under the circumstances,” the statement from the ACLU of Minnesota reads.
“The officer has failed to provide such a statement. The officer’s actions were not objectively reasonable under the circumstances. None of the other officers held this same belief or acted in the same manner. Only one of the officers shot their gun – that officer should be fired.”
There has been no word yet on Hanneman's future with MPD, which marks a contrast to the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, after which Mayor Jacob Frey announced the four officers involved had been fired in the days that followed.
Frey has also found himself under fire in Locke's death over the use of a no-knock warrant in the incident, which sources have told Bring Me The News was specifically requested by MPD.
His office instituted a moratorium on no-knock warrants for MPD following Locke’s killing, but Frey has backtracked on previous claims he made during his mayoral campaign that he had already banned them.
Locke's shooting continues to be under investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
