Second teen charged in homicide investigation that resulted in Amir Locke death

A second teen was charged in the homicide investigation that prompted police to enter the home of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, with a no-knock warrant and kill him.

Court documents showed that a 16-year-old boy was charged with two counts of aiding and abetting second-degree murder in connection with the homicide of Otis Elder, a 38-year-old father of two, who was killed on Jan. 10, USA Today reported.

Locke’s 17-year-old cousin was previously arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the homicide.

Locke was killed on Feb. 2 when police investigating Elder’s death tracked suspects in the shooting to a Minneapolis apartment building and executed search warrants on three apartments, per USA Today.

Locke, who was sleeping in one of the apartments, was not named in those warrants. 

But officer Mark Hanneman fatally shot Locke after a SWAT team quietly opened the door and began shouting commands, causing Locke, who was holding a gun with his finger off the trigger, to stir on the couch.

Locke’s death prompted hundreds of people to gather in downtown Minneapolis in protest.

Following the incident, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) issued a moratorium on no-knock warrants and pledged to review the policy of the warrants alongside people who drafted Breonna’s Law, a policy limiting no-knock warrants in Kentucky that was enacted after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police officers during a no-knock raid in 2020.