Family of Amir Locke, shot in no-knock police raid, files lawsuit

The 22-year-old was killed in a police shooting after officers entered the Minneapolis apartment where he was sleeping. The family of a 22-year-old killed when police in the United States were executing a “no-knock” search on the apartment in which he was sleeping has filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging wrongdoing on the part of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, its police force and the officer who fired the fatal shots. The death of Amir Locke on February 2, 2022, brought renewed scrutiny to the practice of issuing “no-knock” warrants, allowing police to enter buildings without announcing their presence first. “Amir Locke should not have died one year ago, and we will use this lawsuit to fight for justice and for much-needed change in the way Minneapolis trains its officers.” A two-year probe released in April 2022 by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights concluded that the city’s police department had exhibited a “pattern or practice” of racial discrimination. “No-knock warrants, like the one that resulted in Amir’s senseless death, are an issue that Minneapolis and our entire nation need to deal with,” another lawyer on the Locke family legal team, Antonio Romanucci, said in a statement.