MINNEAPOLIS — Police have arrested a 17-year-old on probable cause murder charges in connection with the Jan. 10 homicide of Otis R. Elder — the underlying case behind a no-knock warrant and predawn raid that killed 22-year-old Amir Locke.
Officers responded to a 911 call in St. Paul's Hamline-Midway neighborhood last month, where they found Elder, 38, suffering from a gunshot wound in the street outside a recording studio on the 500 block of N. Prior Avenue. He later died at Regions Hospital.
As their investigation progressed last week, St. Paul police filed standard applications for search warrant affidavits for three separate apartments at the Bolero Flats Apartment Homes, at 1117 S. Marquette Av., in downtown Minneapolis. But detectives were forced to resubmit the requests after Minneapolis police insisted on a no-knock operation.
MPD would not have agreed to execute the search in its jurisdiction otherwise, according to a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. St. Paul police rarely execute no-knock warrants because they are considered high-risk. The capital city police force has not served such a warrant since 2016, said department spokesman Steve Linders.
Locke, who was not a target of the investigation, was sleeping in the apartment of a relative when members of a Minneapolis police SWAT team burst in shortly before 7 a.m. last Wednesday. Footage from one of the officers' body cameras showed police quietly unlocking the apartment door with a key before barging inside, yelling "Search warrant!" as Locke lay under a blanket on the couch. An officer kicked the couch, Locke stirred, holding a firearm in his right hand. He was shot by officer Mark Hanneman within seconds.
Locke was not named in the application for the search warrants, but he is thought to be related to the 17-year-old suspect. Those warrants remain sealed in court.
Authorities eventually tracked the teenage suspect to Winona, Minn., according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are formally charged.
Elder leaves behind two young sons.
"O – as most of you knew him – absolutely loved these streets of St. Paul," his cousin eulogized at his funeral last month. "It's gut-wrenching to know that these same streets took him away from us."
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