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The same judge who presided over the trial for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of George Floyd’s murder, signed off on the no-knock warrant that resulted in an officer shooting Amir Locke in another high-profile police killing of a Black man in the Twin Cities.
The warrants were made public Thursday following the arrest of Locke’s 17-year-old cousin, who was the subject of the warrant and is charged with the murder of an alleged drug dealer, 39-year-old Otis Elder.
Fox News Digital is not naming the 17-year-old because he is being prosecuted as a minor. But Ramsey County prosecutors are pushing to have the teen tried as an adult in the Jan. 10 murder of Elder. St. Paul Fire paramedics responded to a 911 call to find Elder shot and lying in the street near a vehicle.
The warrant notes that suspects fled the scene of the shooting in a gray Mercedes – which was reported stolen earlier in the month and was the suspect vehicle in a string of car thefts, including the theft of a Maserati stolen just three days before Elder was shot and left for dead.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill electronically signed off on the Feb. 2 no-knock warrant authorizing an unannounced search of a seventh-floor unit at the Bolero Flats Apartments in Minneapolis.
The unit was rented by Tatyna Alexus Henderson. Her live-in boyfriend is named in court documents as 23-year-old Marlon Cornelius Speed. Speed’s 17-year-old brother was the subject of the warrant. Locke, who was shot and killed but was not named in the warrant, was their 22-year-old cousin.
Body-camera footage showed Locke lying on the couch wrapped in a blanket when uniformed officers entered the apartment before 7 a.m. He appeared to have been lying down but moved away from the couch with a gun in his hand moments before Officer Mark Hanneman shot him.
In signing the warrant, Cahill and the court asserted that a "no-knock entry, without announcement of authority or purpose is necessary to prevent the loss, destruction or removal of the objects of said search or to protect the safety of the searchers or the public."
Minneapolis has seen renewed protests since Locke’s shooting, which happened during the federal trial for the three other officers at the scene where Chauvin held Floyd to the pavement on Memorial Day 2020.
AMIR LOCKE POLICE SHOOTING DEATH: MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR FREY GRILLED OVER NO-KNOCK SEARCH WARRANT POLICY
Cahill presided over Chauvin’s state trial in April. During that trial, the deadly shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by ex-Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop in the nearby suburb sparked several days of civil unrest. Potter was ultimately convicted of manslaughter in December.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill speaks during pretrial motions in the trial of Derek Chauvin on March 11, 2021, in Minneapolis. (Court TV/ Pool via AP)
Mayor Jacob Frey has placed a moratorium on nearly all no-knock warrants since Locke’s shooting, and Locke’s family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who secured the record $27 million civil settlement from the City of Minneapolis for Floyd’s family while Chauvin’s trial was still underway.
The warrant notes that the Jan. 10 homicide in St. Paul "was a violent robbery where the suspect shot the victim with a .223 Caliber firearm." After the shooting, the suspects fled to the Bolero Flats Apartments in Minneapolis, where the 17-year-old "was seen on video trying to manipulate and cover up an item in his pants and coat," which police believe to be the firearm used to kill Elder.
"These suspects have been actively involved in numerous crimes throughout the metro since at least November 2021, to include robberies, firearm incidents, and fleeing police in a motor vehicle," the warrant says. "A criminal history review of the known suspects in this homicide revealed that they have a history of violent crime."
Investigators noted that the suspects had been "posting videos and photos on Instagram holding several different firearms to include a rifle, possibly the murder weapon" and that because ".223 Caliber rifle rounds can penetrate police body armor, a no-knock warrant enables officers to execute the warrant more safely by allowing officers to make entry into the apartment without alerting suspects inside."
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"This will not only increase officer safety, but it will also decrease the risk for injuries to the suspects and other residents nearby," St. Paul Police Sgt. Daniel Zebro wrote in the request for the search warrant.
Zebro said the warrant was to search for blood evidence, forensic evidence, firearms, ammunition, electronic devices, drugs, identifying documents, money, fire extinguishers, Mercedes key fobs and specific sets of clothing the suspects were seen wearing while fleeing the crime scene.
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