MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot 22-year-old Amir Locke during a SWAT raid on a downtown apartment in early February will not be charged with a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.
"After a thorough review of all available evidence ... there is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case," a statement from Freeman and Ellison read.
"Specifically," the statement continued, "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 [Mark] 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."
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) turned over last week the final piece of its nearly two-month investigation to the County Attorney's Office, with Ellison taking the lead, which reviewed the findings and made the call not to charge Hanneman, 34.
A video released shortly after the shooting Feb. 2 showed several SWAT officers rushing into the Bolero Flats Apartment Homes, at 1117 S. Marquette Av. about 7 a.m. while shouting "Search warrant!" in connection with a homicide investigation in St. Paul that did not involve Locke.
Hanneman then shot Locke within seconds as he stirred beneath a blanket on a couch with a gun visible in his hand.
Hanneman was put on paid administrative leave soon after the shooting. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Howie Padilla said Tuesday night that Hanneman is no longer on leave and is back on duty.
The Freeman and Ellison statement emphasized that "Amir Locke's life mattered. He was a young man with plans to move to Dallas, where he would be closer to his mom and — he hoped — build a career as a hip-hop artist, following in the musical footsteps of his father."
Despite the lack of charges in his death, the statement continued, Locke "should be alive today, and his death is a tragedy. Amir Locke was not a suspect in the underlying St. 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. County Attorney Freeman and Attorney General Ellison met with the Locke family this morning and once again send their deepest condolences to them during this incredibly difficult time."
Hanneman joined the department in July 2015 after five years as a police officer in his hometown of Hutchinson, Minn., according to public records and his personnel file released by Minneapolis officials.
He has had various shifts downtown and in other precincts, and had been on a SWAT assignment for three days when he shot Locke. His SWAT assignment was scheduled to run until Feb. 26, but his paid leave cut that short.
Locke, who was staying with a cousin, was not the subject of the warrant. The city on Tuesday implemented a new policy that permanently bans the Police Department's use of no-knock warrants. Instead, officers must knock, announce and wait.
The warrant was carried out at the request of St. Paul police in connection with a fatal shooting in that city in January. Locke's cousin, 17-year-old Mekhi Speed, and another teenager have been charged with the killing of Otis R. Elder, 38, as he sat in his vehicle.
The partnership between the County Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office in the Locke case was also used after fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was charged with murder and convicted of killing George Floyd in May 2020 and again after fired Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter was charged with manslaughter and convicted of killing Daunte Wright in April 2021.
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