The Minnesota chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement after Minneapolis police shot and killed Amir Locke, a 22 year old Black man, during a police raid Wednesday morning in an apartment building in Minneapolis. Reports indicate that Locke was not named in the search warrant and was not a target of the investigation that led to the raid. Recently released body camera footage does not show police announcing themselves before entering the apartment. Details are still developing.
“Amir Locke should be alive today. Our hearts break for his loved ones and family during this terrible time,” said Libby Holden, a volunteer with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We join the Minneapolis community in calling for justice in Amir’s shooting, and fighting for meaningful police reform.”
Research suggests that implementing specific use-of-force policies can save lives. One 2016 study of 91 large police departments found adoption of use-of-force reform policies—exhaustion of other means prior to shooting, bans on chokeholds and strangleholds, use-of-force continuum, de-escalation, duty to intervene, restrictions on shootings at moving vehicles, and warning before shooting—was associated with fewer people killed by police.
More on gun violence in Minnesota is available here.