Authorities searching a Minneapolis apartment where Amir Locke was killed by a SWAT team member said a no-knock warrant was necessary to protect the public and officers as they looked for guns, drugs and clothing worn by people suspected in a murder, reports the Associated Press. The applications for the search warrants executed at the apartment complex on Feb. 2 were released as Locke’s family renewed a call for a ban on no-knock warrants. Police have said the 22-year-old Locke, who was Black, was not named in the warrants. Locke’s 17-year-old cousin, Mekhi Camden Speed, was named and was arrested this week on two counts of second-degree murder.
In the search warrant applications, St. Paul police officer Daniel Zebro asked that officers be allowed to conduct the search without knocking, and outside the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., because the suspects being sought in the Jan. 10 murder of Otis Elder had a history of violence. Zebro noted that Elder was killed with a .223 caliber firearm, which could pierce body armor.