A teenager has been arrested and charged in a homicide investigation that led to the shooting of Amir Locke during a no-knock warrant raid by Minnesota police last week.
Prosecutors filed a petition in the Ramsay County Juvenile Court against Mekhi Speed, a 17-year-old who was Locke’s cousin and turns 18 in a month, saying he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection to a Jan. 10 shooting and asking to move proceedings to an adult court, according to court documents.
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“A 17-year-old male was arrested at about 3:45 p.m. yesterday in Winona, Minn., by the Southeast Metro Task Force, the Ramsey County Violent Crime Enforcement Team, and members of the SPPD Special Investigations Unit,” the Saint Paul Police Department said Tuesday. “He was booked for Murder 2 in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center, and charges are expected today from the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.”
Last week, police executed a no-knock search warrant on an apartment as part of its investigation of the Jan. 10 shooting. Locke, a 22-year-old black man who was not subject to the investigation, was sleeping in the apartment, according to the Star Tribune. He had his gun out as a SWAT team entered his apartment around 7 a.m. on Feb. 2 and was shot by an officer, body camera footage revealed. Locke’s family said he owned the gun legally, according to CNN.
The girlfriend of Speed’s brother was the registered occupant of that apartment, court documents said. Speed had been at the apartment as recently as January 2022, and police had been to the apartment on several occasions in the past.
The apartment was one of three apartments officers raided last week in their search for Speed, court documents said. Officers found marijuana and clothing they believe belonged to Speed during the raid in which Locke was killed. Police said Speed was apprehended in Winona, Minnesota, which is over 100 miles away from Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The shooting of Locke sparked protests by people demanding accountability for his death and criticizing the use of no-knock warrants.
Students in St. Paul, Minnesota, walk out of school to demand justice for Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was killed by an officer in a no-knock police SWAT raid. pic.twitter.com/q23xixwXRu
— The Recount (@therecount) February 8, 2022
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The charges were brought against Speed by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.
The motivation behind the fatal shooting of Otis Elder, 38, is unclear. Witnesses told officers they suspected Elder might have been engaged in a drug transaction, according to court documents. Elder was a father of two, WABI5 reported.
