Minneapolis prosecutors announced Wednesday that they do not plan to file charges against a police officer who shot and killed a legally armed man during a no-knock raid in February.
Amir Locke died of gunshot wounds inflicted by officer Mark Hanneman, who was part of a team investigating a homicide in nearby St. Paul. Locke was not the subject of the warrant, but in bodycam footage released shortly after the incident, Locke can be seen holding a handgun as he wakes up from sleeping on a couch.
He possessed the gun legally, and his mother said he purchased it to protect himself in the course of his work and in response to rising crime.
“My son was protecting himself, thinking he had to protect himself from all the crime that is out of control, Mayor Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, that you can’t control,” she said. “So my son decided that if he’s going to go back and forth and do Instacart and DoorDash, he needed to bear arms, the legal way.”
Hanneman told investigators that he feared for his life when he saw Locke’s gun, and that he had acted quickly because he felt his life was in jeopardy. While Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman described Locke’s death as a “tragedy,” he concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Hanneman violated any of the state’s use of force statutes.
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Legal experts acknowledged from the start that charges were unlikely, but the incident has given anti-gun pundits and politicians another excuse to accuse the Second Amendment community of racism.
“Where [are] the Second Amendment supporters for Black people who have a right to bear arms?” attorney Benjamin Crump said at a news conference in New York City alongside Locke’s mother. “Where is the NRA? They should be outraged.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has remained silent on the incident, but many other Second Amendment groups and individuals have spoken out.
While the investigation was still in its early stages, Gun Owners of America expressed “concern” about the incident.
“While the video does appear to show he had a firearm in hand, that is not an unwarranted action on someone’s part when they’re woken up in the middle of the night to loud shouting,” the group pointed out. “Not to mention the fact that we have seen other cases where home invaders pose as police to get the upper hand on their intended victims.”
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus also noted that Locke was simply exercising his Second Amendment rights.
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“Mr. Locke did what many of us might do in the same confusing circumstances, he reached for a legal means of self-defense while he sought to understand what was happening,” said Rob Doar, who works in the group’s government affairs office.
Writing for the libertarian magazine, Reason, Bill Binion argued that “anyone who cares about gun rights” should be “incensed” about Locke’s death.
“Locke’s scenario should bother just about anyone who supports the right to carry a firearm,” he said. “The Second Amendment does not discriminate, nor does it evaporate as soon as the government enters the premises, particularly when considering that the Founding impetus behind it was to protect against a tyrannical state.”
In response to Locke’s death, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has banned the use of no-knock warrants in the city.
Locke’s family and their attorneys say they plan to pursue the case in civil court.
In light of this tragedy, what is your opinion of no-knock raids?