- Cops involved in the raid that ended in the shooting death of
Amir Locke argued to a judge that a "no-knock" entry would be safer. - Locke was fatally shot in a Minneapolis apartment by police carrying out a no-knock warrant on February 2.
Minnesota police involved in the raid that ended in the shooting death of Amir Locke argued to a judge that a "no-knock" entry would be safer, according to a newly released search warrant.
The warrant released on Thursday by the Hennepin County District Court allowed authorities to carry out the February 2 no-knock apartment search in which Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, was shot dead by a SWAT officer with the Minneapolis Police Department in the early morning hours of February 2.
The application for the warrant, which was secured by the Saint Paul Police Department in connection with a homicide case, argued that a nighttime search and no-knock raid was "necessary to prevent the loss, destruction, or removal of the objects of the search, or to protect the safety of the searchers or the public."
It also said that a no-knock warrant "enables officers to execute the warrant more safely by allowing officers to make entry into the apartment without alerting the suspects inside."
"This will not only increase officer safety, but it will also decrease the risk for injuries to the suspects and other residents nearby," the application said.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill — the same judge who presided over the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin— approved the warrant.
Cahill had previously approved a warrant for the same apartment, but police sought additional approval a day later to allow them to enter without warning the occupants first.
According to the Star Tribune, Saint Paul police were forced to resubmit its search warrant application after Minneapolis police insisted on a no-knock entry.
"The court further finds that no-knock entry, without announcement of authority or purpose is necessary to prevent the loss, destruction, or removal of the objects of said search or to protect the safety of the searchers or the public," Cahill ruled, according to the warrant.
Locke was not named in any of the search warrants that police obtained in connection to the Saint Paul murder case, but his cousin, 17-year-old Mekhi Speed, was.
Speed was arrested and charged this week with two counts of second-degree murder for the January 10 death of Otis Elder in Saint Paul.
As part of the Saint Paul Police Department's investigation into Elder's death, the department secured search warrants for several units at a Minneapolis apartment building called the Bolero Flats and asked the Minneapolis Police Department to execute them.
Locke was staying in one of those apartments when a SWAT team executed the no-knock raid just before 7 a.m.
Graphic footage of the incident from a police body-camera shows Locke under a blanket on the couch when police stormed into the home. Locke can be seen in video footage on the couch with a pistol in his hand moments before he was shot dead.
Locke was a legal gun owner, according to his parents who have said police "executed" their son.
In applications for the search warrants, investigators described Elder's murder as "a violent robbery where the suspect shot the victim with a .223 Caliber firearm."
The application said that the suspects involved in the murder "fled to the Bolero Flats Apartments in Minneapolis where Speed was seen on video trying to manipulate and cover up an item in his pants and coat" that investigators believed was the firearm used to kill Elder.
"A criminal history review of the known suspects in this homicide revealed that they have a history of violent crimes," the application said, explaining, that the suspects posted on social media showing them holding several different firearms and posted videos from the Bolero Flats apartment complex.