Minneapolis police released a video Thursday showing the death of a former black man in the city where George Floyd died in 2020; his family is asking for light to be shed on the circumstances under which the tragedy unfolded.
Amir Locke, 22, was killed when a team of Minneapolis Police Special Forces (SWAT) stormed an apartment in the northern US metropolis just before 07:00 a.m. Wednesday, according to the local Star Tribune newspaper.
The video of the attack, released last Thursday night, shows police officers opening the door of the apartment using a key, entering, announcing their presence and then taking a few steps towards the living room, where a man is lying on the couch, hooded with blanket. When he goes to get up, holding a pistol in his hand, a policeman shoots him almost from the contact three times.
In a statement issued Wednesday, authorities said "almost nine seconds after they entered, police were confronted with an armed man armed with a pistol pointing in their direction."
Within "a moment", a police officer used his service weapon and "the adult man was injured", the announcement continues, which clarifies that the victim succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.
The group's attack was linked to a case in the neighboring town of St. Paul, in which Amir Locke was not involved, according to Star Tribune, which cited three anonymous sources close to the police.
The paper also revealed that according to police radio communications before the attack, the special forces team was carrying out a search warrant from the so-called "no-knock", which allows law enforcement forces to break down doors without first announcing their presence. their.
"We will continue to press for answers to this case, until Amir's mourning family can turn the page," said Ben Crump, a well-known American criminologist, in a statement to AFP. has represented, among others, the family of George Floyd and undertaken to defend the interests of the Locke family.
On May 25, 2020, Derek Sauvin, a veteran Minneapolis police officer, put his knee on George Floyd's neck and continued to push him for almost ten minutes, defying passersby and the African-American begging him to be weak.
The scene, which was videotaped and spread on social networking sites, sparked mass mobilizations and violent incidents in Minneapolis, across the United States and internationally.
Amir Lok's lawyer and family members are scheduled to give a press conference today at 10:00 (local time; 18:00 Cyprus time).
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