Amir Locke, man killed by MPD officer during no-knock warrant, laid to rest
Amir Locke was laid to rest on Thursday after the 22-year-old was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer carrying out a no-knock warrant — that Locke wasn’t named in — earlier this month.
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“I stand here today as a father that’s torn and a father that’s hurt,” Andre Locke, Amir Locke’s father, said. “I continue to believe it had to be something God wanted Amir for.”
Locke’s parents honored the life of their son; his mother said he was robbed of his future.
“He was always a jokester. He was his brother’s keeper,” Karen Wells, Amir Locke’s mother, said.
Wells said her son’s death was not in vain.
National civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton led the funeral service and delivered the eulogy.
“His name wasn’t on your warrant, but his name is going to be in your law book,” Sharpton said. “You didn’t think enough of him to check his identity, but we thought enough of him to change laws in his name.”
Activists, loved ones and the community packed Shiloh Temple to remember Locke and call for change.
RELATED: Song, prayer during Amir Locke’s funeral in Minneapolis
Locke’s aunt, Linda Tyler, is calling for police reform. She said police training won’t get rid of racism.
“We should be outraged. This cannot continue to happen,” Tyler said. “You are not drafted into the police department, you chose it. If you think being a police officer is a difficult profession, try being a Black man.”
The community agrees change is needed, but hope is hard to come by.
“Until some laws are changed and policies are changed so the police is held accountable for their actions, I don’t see that happening,” said Jamil Jackson, Minnesota Freedom Fighters commander.
The death of Amir Locke sparked calls for change to ban no-knock warrants.
Community activists said they won’t stop protesting and fighting until lawmakers make changes at the state level.
The ACLU called for the firing of the officer who shot and killed Amir Locke in a news release sent Thursday.