Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Friday that he was imposing a moratorium on search warrants allowing police to raid homes without first announcing their presence, the so-called "no-knock", after a 22-year-old African-American was shot dead by police. .
The Minneapolis Police Department has released a video and a photo showing the man, Amir Locke, holding a gun while under a blanket, after being awakened by police officers who broke into his apartment on Wednesday to carry out research.
"In order to protect the safety of both the public and the police, until new rules are drawn up, I am issuing a moratorium on both requests and the execution of such warrants in Minneapolis," Frey said in a statement.
The video of the attack on Locke's home, released Thursday night, shows police officers opening the apartment door using a key, entering, announcing their presence and then taking a few steps towards the living room, where a man is lying on the floor. sofa, 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.
The Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday that "almost nine seconds after they entered, police officers were confronted with an armed man, armed with a pistol, pointing in their direction."
Locke was not named in the search warrant, which was issued as part of a police investigation into a homicide case being investigated by the nearby St. Paul police station, explained Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman.
"Implementation"
"Helpless and angry" Lock's parents complained on Friday during a press conference that they gave his "execution", accusing the police that "they did not give any chance" to their son.
"A mother should never see her son executed in this way," Karen Locke complained. "I will fight every day, all day, 365 days a year to make sure that Amir Rakare Lock is vindicated for his execution," he said.
Andre Locke stressed that his son had a clear criminal record and had a firearms license. "He slept soundly" and "did what any citizen, white or black, who obeys the law under the same conditions would do."
According to him, the police "could have acted differently", asking him to drop his weapon before shooting him. "They did not give him any chance."
In order to defuse tensions, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison "pledged" to conduct a "thorough and fair" investigation into the incident.
"Amir Locke's life counted," he said in a statement, referring to the emblematic motto "Black Lives Matter."
Without prejudging the findings of the investigation, Minneapolis Democratic Gov. Tim Waltz said "we need to go further in reforming" police after George Floyd's death, "especially in terms of search warrants."
"They continue to steal the lives of innocent blacks," said Amir Locke's family's lawyer, Ben Crump, a well-known American criminologist who has represented George Floyd's family, among others.
According to him, Locke had bought a gun because he was a distributor and wanted to protect himself. "Blacks, like everyone else, have the right to bear arms," he said.
"After the deaths of George Floyd and Briona Taylor, the city of Minneapolis announced that it was restricting the use of no-knock orders 'to reduce the chances of a bad development'. "Less than two years later, Amir Locke and his family were suffering from the worst possible development," said Jeff Storms, another lawyer representing the Locke family.
Source: AMPE - skai.gr