Barely in job, new chief feels heat from Amir Locke shooting

Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman was taking questions about the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Amir Locke when a reporter challenged the police account that Locke’s gun was pointed toward officers serving a search warrant. Then act like it.. Don’t cover up for what those cops did.” The exchange underscores the fraught situation that Huffman — named interim chief just weeks ago and a candidate to take the job permanently — faces as she attempts to steer a department in tatters since George Floyd’s killing 20 months ago shattered community trust. Much of the anger since Locke’s death has focused on the department for executing a no-knock warrant — Locke’s parents said body-camera video suggested Locke had been startled awake and then “executed” by officers swarming into the apartment — and for its initial account of events, including a news release that called Locke a “suspect” even though he wasn’t named in the search warrants. “I didn’t appoint interim Chief Huffman to serve as interim chief only in good times,” he told Minnesota Public Radio News, adding that the city is “moving forward with a national search to make sure we end up with the best possible person in our police department.” ___ Find AP’s full coverage of the death of Amir Locke at: https://apnews.com/hub/amir-locke ___ Foody reported from Chicago.