Cop safety cited in no-knock warrant ahead of Locke’s death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Documents show authorities searching the Minneapolis apartment where Amir Locke was killed by a SWAT team member said they believed a no-knock search warrant was necessary to protect the public and officers investigating a violent homicide.

The applications for the search warrants carried out at the apartment complex on Feb. 2 were made public in redacted form Thursday.

In them, police said it was necessary to conduct the searches unannounced because the suspects had a history of violence.

Locke was not named in the warrants.

The police killing of Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, has sparked a reexamination of the use of no-knock warrants and calls for a statewide ban.