Amir Locke Grief, Mark Hanneman’s History In Focus Ahead of Minneapolis Funeral Homicide Police

Hundreds of community members gathered Thursday for the funeral of Amir Rahkare Locke, the 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot seconds after Minneapolis police stormed an apartment with a restraining order because a case that has nothing to do with him.

Meanwhile, even as family, friends and locals mourn, new details have emerged about the white police officer who fired the shots that killed Locke.

Father Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy while the Locke family gathered at the Shiloh Shrine International Department, just 2 miles from the February 2 disaster. The grim situation is hardly a new sight in Minneapolis, an urban area plagued by mass murders of blacks at the hands of law enforcement in recent years. this.

“Amir committed no crime other than being young and black in America,” Sharpton said.

This week alone has seen the motions of at least two of those cases: On Friday, a judge will sentence former Brooklyn cop Kim Potter for killing Daunte Wright in suburban Brooklyn Central last year, while three former Minneapolis police officers continue to face a federal trial for the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Locke family, spoke about the endless cycle of police brutality in Minneapolis — and the rest of the country — in his funeral address.

“Amir Locke was just sleeping on the couch while Black and the police shot him dead. What can we do to make sure our kids don’t become a hashtag? ‘ said Crump, receiving cheers from the crowd. “We have to stand up, we have to speak up and we have to fight for our children. Their lives depend on it.”

The funeral home is also the home where Wright, 20. was booked to rest last April after he was shot dead in a traffic stop launched on supposedly expired tabs.

Those cases helped launch and renew a national calculus on policing. Locke’s family on Thursday sounded another call for justice and law enforcement reform as they mourned their son.

Authorities acknowledged that Locke was not the intended subject of the investigation into the St.

Police records made public last week show that the police of St. Paul asked for a search warrant to be conducted in Minneapolis for three apartments, including the one where Locke was shot. Many local stores have reported that St. Paul did not ask for the controversial no-knob procedure — a process they themselves have avoided in recent years — only for their colleagues in the Minneapolis to emphasize agoes as far as to claim it will actually improve safety.

In gruesome footage of the incident, Locke can be seen wrapped in a blanket in a dark apartment lit only by a television. At least four officers unlocked the door and entered without knocking, shouting “Police! Face forward!” as Locke stirs.As he begins to move from the couch, a pistol can be seen in his hand.

It took about nine seconds before Minneapolis police officer Mark Hanneman opened fire, hitting Locke three times, according to a police report obtained by The Daily Beast.

Police reports and video both show Locke armed at the time – but while initial reports said he was aiming the gun at the officers, in the video the gun does not appear to be aimed at the officer. anyone. The video shows an officer firing three shots while Locke – still wrapped in a blanket – falls to the floor.

“An officer fired a weapon on duty and an adult male suspect was hit. Officers immediately provided first aid and took the suspect down to the lobby to meet paramedics,” the report read. “Suspect was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died.”

Only added to the horror to realize that authorities were actually looking for Locke’s 17-year-old cousin and two others in connection with a murder in St. Paul. The relative was arrested and charged on February 8 with two counts of second-degree murder. As The Daily Beast reportThe apartment where Locke was shot is rented by the girlfriend of one of his cousins.

Facing a fresh onslaught from outraged activists, Mayor Jacob Frey announced a moratorium on the ban shortly after Locke’s death, even as he left the door open to their use in some schools. well suited.

Hanneman has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with department policy, and prosecutors are now weighing whether to press charges in the case that has raised new tensions in a city still traumatized by the murder. Floyd’s horror almost two years ago or not.

The Minnesota Department of Criminal Investigation, a state agency that specializes in police homicide investigations, is tasked with investigating the shooting that killed Locke. But the video, according to the Locke family and many of the protesters who have often crowded the streets of the frozen city in recent days, is more than enough basis for Hanneman to be fired and charged.

After all, Locke’s murder isn’t the first time Hanneman has been charged with misconduct by police, court documents obtained by The Daily Beast and local news reports show.

In a federal civil rights lawsuit obtained by the Daily Beast, Hanneman is one of several police officers accused of violating a man’s civil rights nearly a decade ago. Trevor Coon alleges that he was stopped by a McLeod County deputy in December 2013 after he got out of a car with a friend. Hanneman, still a Hutchinson, Minnesota police officer at the time, was called to the scene and gratuitously conducted a scene sobriety and drug identification test, according to the 2014 lawsuit. .

After he passed all the tests and Hanneman searched his car for nearly two hours, the officer told Coon to “get the hell out of here,” the lawsuit claims. Officers did not arrest or bring any charges against Coon, but did impound his vehicle. In 2015, Judge Richard Kyle ruled in Coon’s favor, ordering Hanneman and other officers to pay him a total of $4,500.

While Coon told The Daily Beast he appreciated being contacted about Hanneman and his case, he did not wish to comment on the officer’s or Locke’s deaths. Hanneman’s attorney for the case did not respond to a request for comment.

Court documents obtained by a local ABC affiliate also shows that, in November 2020, Hanneman unlawfully searched a man while executing a search warrant in St. Paul, Minnesota. In that case, the police targeted someone who wasn’t actually being sought by investigators.

According to a judge’s ruling, “The Patience Search of [the St. Paul man] is unconstitutional. The police were not … justified in the search [the man]”Because of him” is not mentioned in the subpoena. ”

Hanneman was not disciplined by the Minneapolis Police Department for the incident. According to KSTP, Locke’s family has said the case speaks to the “customs and practices of engaging in unconstitutional excessive searches and seizures”.