Locke’s loss of life has provoked an outcry in opposition to no-knock warrants, with a push by his household and others to ban them.
Tons of of individuals gathered to mourn Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was shot lifeless by police throughout a raid on his condo, the newest in a sequence of killings by regulation enforcement that sparked outrage over police remedy of Black People.
Outstanding civil rights activist the Reverend Al Sharpton delivered Locke’s eulogy on Thursday, after a public viewing at a church in Minneapolis, a metropolitan space the place two high-profile killings of Black males attracted nationwide consideration previously two years.
“Amir was not responsible of something aside from being younger and Black in America,” Sharpton stated. He stated if Minneapolis had banned no-knock warrants “we wouldn’t be at a funeral this morning”.
The service happened on the identical church the place Daunte Wright, shot lifeless throughout a site visitors cease in a close-by suburb, was memorialised in April 2021.
“Officers don’t want extra coaching, they must be relieved of their responsibility,” Linda Kay Taylor, Locke’s aunt stated.
“You can not practice away racism,” Taylor stated. “You can not practice any individual to be empathetic about Black and brown lives.”
“It’s both in you or it’s not,” she stated.
A big portrait of Locke was on the entrance of the church as folks streamed inside to pay their respects. Locke’s physique was in a white coffin topped with roses and a number of bouquets of flowers close by.
At Shiloh Temple Ministries getting ready to eulogize #AmirLocke. This is similar church the place we laid Daunte Wright to relaxation, one other younger black man killed unjustly by police in Minneapolis. This has to cease, the legal guidelines should be modified and the officers should be held accountable. pic.twitter.com/CLWb9aHZWN
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) February 17, 2022
Locke’s loss of life has been in contrast with the killing of George Floyd, who died when a Minneapolis police officer used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the bottom in Could 2020. Floyd’s loss of life, captured on a video that went viral, sparked a summer season of protests over racial injustice throughout the USA and overseas.
The circumstances round Locke’s deadly encounter with police additionally mirrors that of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black girl fatally shot by police throughout a raid on her Kentucky condo.
In Locke’s case, he was shot lifeless by police who obtained a no-knock warrant to look the condo as a part of a murder investigation. He was not named within the warrant.
Days after his loss of life on February 2, police launched video footage of the raid. It confirmed Locke holding a gun as he twisted beneath a blanket on a settee after being roused by officers. Police say he pointed the gun at officers earlier than they opened hearth. Locke’s household disputes that.
Protests in downtown Minneapolis have drawn lots of of demonstrators demanding justice and a ban on no-knock warrants.
Activists on the protests stated Locke had a proper to own a weapon in his residence and was by no means given the possibility to disarm himself within the chaotic moments as police stormed into his condo with out warning.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has positioned a moratorium on such searches and a few state lawmakers are searching for to enact laws to restrict them.