ACLU-MN Calls For The Firing Of MPD Officer Who Shot Amir Locke

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for the firing of the Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke earlier this month.

In a statement Thursday, the ACLU-MN echoed the demands of activists and Locke's family, saying that officer Mark Hanneman should be fired immediately.

"The officer must be held accountable for using more than objectively reasonable force under the circumstances, violating MPD's own policies," the civil liberties group said.

Hanneman shot Locke three times on Feb. 2 roughly nine seconds after entering a downtown apartment during no-knock raid. Hanneman and other SWAT team members were serving a search warrant connected to a homicide in St. Paul. Locke was not named on the warrant.

Body camera video of the shooting showed that Locke was sleeping on a couch when the SWAT team burst through the threshold, with guns raised and flashlights on. Locke, a legal gun owner, sat up holding a gun. Hanneman shot him twice in the chest and once in the wrist. Locke died minutes later.

The ACLU-MN says that Hanneman had no reason to shoot Locke so quickly.

"Locke did not point the gun in the direction of the officers behind him, did not have his finger on the trigger, and never threatened to use the gun against any of the MPD officers," the group's statement said, adding: "It seems to us...that Locke was killed because he was a Black man with a gun."

Because Locke didn't pose an immediate threat, the group said, Hanneman violated department policy by not objectively using reasonable force.

At a contentious press conference days after the shooting, Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman said that Hanneman saw Locke's gun and made a split-second decision, considering the safety of himself and his fellow officers.

She and Mayor Jacob Frey were interrupted by activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who accused city leadership of "white washing" the shooting. Armstrong is the co-chair of the mayor's recently-created Commission of Public Safety.

Locke's family and activists have called for Hanneman to be fired, arrested and prosecuted in Locke's killing. Funeral services for the 22-year-old Black man were held Thursday, and speakers repeatedly urged lawmakers in Minnesota and Washington to ban no-knock warrants.

Hanneman is on administrative leave. The shooting is under investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.