MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, with assistance from Attorney General Keith Ellison, has declined to bring charges against Mark Hanneman, the Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Amir Locke while serving a no-knock search warrant in February.Mike Freeman, the Hennepin County Attorney, wrote there is "insufficient admissible evidence" to file criminal charges in the case."Specifically, the State would be unable to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt any of the elements of Minnesota’s use-of-deadly-force statute that authorizes the use of force by Officer Hanneman.
Nor would the State be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a criminal charge against any other officer involved in the decision-making that led to the death of Amir Locke," Freeman wrote.Freeman and Ellison also suggested to policymakers they should reconsider using no-knock warrants."Amir Locke’s life mattered," they wrote. "He should be alive today, and his death is a tragedy.
Amir Locke was not a suspect in the underlying Saint Paul criminal investigation nor was he named in the search warrants. Amir Locke is a victim.
This tragedy may not have occurred absent the no-knock warrant used in this case.""Any time law enforcement interacts with the public, all parties should be able to go home safely.