Funeral for Amir Locke, Victim of Minneapolis Police Shooting, to be Live Streamed on Thurs. Feb. 17
By Kietryn Zychal
The funeral for Amir Locke, 22, will be live streamed on Thurs., Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. on the Shiloh Temple International Ministries Facebook page.
Locke was killed Feb. 2 by Minneapolis Police officer Mark Hanneman serving a no knock warrant in the early morning. Officers opened the door of a residence with a key and only after entering the apartment, identified themselves as police.
Amir was sleeping underneath a blanket on a couch. During a Feb. 4 press conference, his parents Karen Wells and Andre Locke both spoke about what a deep sleeper their son was. Locke described how body camera footage showed an officer kicking the couch, startling his son awake. Amir reached for a gun, which he owned legally to protect himself while working as a DoorDash delivery person. Amir’s head was partially covered by the blanket when he was shot.
It happened within nine seconds of the officers entering the apartment. Locke was not the person sought in the search warrant.
Ending no-knock warrants became an objective for social justice advocates after the police killing of Breonna Taylor in 2020 during a no-knock raid in Louisville, Ky. While Florida, Oregon and Virginia are the only states to ban no-knock warrants, at least 34 other states have some kind of no-knock restriction.
Photo credit: Emily Chen Newton
According to an Intercept article, Jeremiah Ellison of the Minneapolis City Council stated that St. Paul hasn’t executed a no-knock warrant since 2016. Over the same period, Minneapolis police have executed 885.
At the Feb. 4 press conference, attorney Jeff Stone said, “We’ve been here too many times.
Everybody knows about the dangers of no-knock warrants from Breonna Taylor. What’s it going to take for the lesson to be learned? Unless we stand up and demand real actual change and accountability, we’re all going to be back here again.”
Locke’s mother, Karen Wells, was raised in Omaha before moving to Minnesota where she lived for 25 years raising two sons in the Twin Cities. She is currently living in Dallas, Tex.
Wells told the crowd, “My son didn’t deserve what happened to him. This is very detrimental and heart wrenching and hard. I was always an advocate for the families that went through this. Never in a million years would I have imagined that my son Amir, who was born and raised in the Twin Cities, a law abiding citizen, did everything he was supposed to do, was raised with morals and values, loved by so many, everybody who came in contact with him. He had a beautiful spirit and a beautiful smile.
“Never would I have imagined that I would be standing up here talking about the execution of my son by the Minneapolis Police Department.”
Wells was calm and dry-eyed as she said, “I shouldn't have to be here. At the end of the day, I believe that he was executed by the MPD and I want the police officer who murdered my son to be prosecuted and fired.”
Amir’s father Andre Locke directed a question to all the media members with children. “I want you to do me a favor. Put yourself in our shoes. How does it feel to know that your son is sleeping comfortably, in a safe place, peacefully, and someone takes it upon themselves to choose who lives and who dies?”
Locke told the crowd that he has five sons and four daughters. “I loved Amir dearly. I love each of them dearly. Amir was a bright light, and he deserves to be able to shine.”
At one point Locke could barely control his emotions and he said, “I have to think of my mother right now, I’m sorry. She’d tell me to straighten up and speak straight. Me, being one of the stronger ones of the family, I have to get it together.”
In closing he said, “I definitely agree we want the officer who took our son’s life– we believe he executed him– we definitely want him prosecuted to the fullest and he needs to be out of there.”
“At the end of the day, I believe that he was executed by the MPD and I want the police officer who murdered my son to be prosecuted and fired.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement to National Public Radio. "Amir Locke's life mattered. He was only 22-years-old and had his whole life ahead of him." Ellison’s office is working with the county attorney's office in Minneapolis to review whether criminal charges will be brought against the officers.
Ellison successfully prosecuted murder charges against police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd, and manslaughter charges against officer Kim Potter for the death of Daunte Wright.
The family of Amir Locke has set up a gofundme page for those who want to make donations, a memorial foundation website, and a facebook page.
