BCA forwards to prosecutors investigation of Amir Locke’s killing by Minneapolis police

State investigators forwarded their investigation to prosecutors in the fatal shooting nearly two months ago of Amir Locke, the 22-year-old man who was killed by Minneapolis police as they stormed a downtown apartment while carrying out a no-knock warrant.

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) spokeswoman Jill Oliveira said Tuesday the case is now in the hands of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, with state Attorney General Keith Ellison taking the lead in assessing whether to charge officer Mark Hanneman with a crime.

The partnership is the same arrangement used when fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was charged and later convicted of killing George Floyd in May 2020 and again when fired Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter was charged and convicted of killing Daunte Wright in April 2021.

Minneapolis police body camera video released shortly after the shooting on Feb. 2 showed several SWAT officers rushing into the apartment about 7 a.m. while shouting "Search warrant!" Hanneman then shot Locke within seconds as he stirred beneath a blanket on a couch with a gun visible in his hand.

Hanneman has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting in seventh-floor unit of the Bolero Flats Apartment Homes, at 1117 S. Marquette Av.

Locke, who was staying with a cousin, was not the subject of the warrant. Mayor Jacob Frey has since proposed a policy change that would permanently ban the Police Department's use of no-knock warrants. Instead, officers must knock, announce and wait. The policy was expected to be written by early next month.

The warrant was in connection with a fatal shooting in St. Paul in January. Locke's cousin, 17-year-old Mekhi Speed, and another teenager have been charged in connection with the killing of Otis R. Elder, 38, as he sat in his vehicle.