Amir Locke

Amir Locke, 22, an aspiring hip-hop artist, was shot and killed by Minneapolis Police SWAT Officer Mark Hanneman on February 2, 2022, within about ten seconds of officers using a key to enter his cousin's apartment on a no-knock warrant tied to a homicide investigation in neighboring St. Paul. Locke, asleep on the couch under a blanket, was not named in the warrant and was not a suspect in the investigation. Body camera video showed him stirring awake and rising with a handgun he was legally licensed to carry as officers shouted commands; Hanneman shot him three times, saying Locke had pointed the gun toward officers, a characterization Locke's family disputed. Minnesota's attorney general and the Hennepin County attorney jointly announced in April 2022 that there was insufficient evidence to charge Hanneman. No one has ever been charged in Locke's death.

Minneapolis, MN · Hennepin County

• 2022: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The no-knock entry, the roughly ten-second span between entry and gunfire, and the shooting, per Minneapolis Police Department body camera footage released publicly.
• Locke was not named on the search warrant and was not a suspect in the St. Paul homicide investigation the warrant related to.
• Locke held a valid Minnesota permit to carry the handgun found in his hand.
• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman jointly announced on April 6, 2022 that there was insufficient admissible evidence to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hanneman's use of force was legally authorized, and declined to charge him.
• Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ordered an immediate moratorium on no-knock warrants days after the shooting and later formalized a policy requiring officers to knock and announce before entering in most circumstances.
• Locke's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and Hanneman in February 2023, one year after his death.

• Whether Locke in fact pointed the handgun toward officers, as Hanneman's account maintained and prosecutors found sufficient to preclude charges, or whether he was simply startled awake and reaching for a legally owned weapon without directing it at anyone, as his family argued from the same body camera footage, was never resolved by any criminal trial.
• Why Locke, asleep and not named in the warrant, was in the apartment at the specific moment of the raid has been explained by the family as simply staying at his cousin's home, though this was not centrally addressed in the prosecutors' charging decision.
• The full internal SWAT team briefing materials for the raid, including what officers were told about who might be present in the apartment, have not been made comprehensively public.

• CBS News — “No charges will be filed in no-knock warrant killing of Amir Locke, authorities say”
• Al Jazeera — “Police will not be charged in ‘no-knock’ killing of Amir Locke”
• Al Jazeera — “Family of Amir Locke, shot in no-knock police raid, files lawsuit”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs