Slain Minnesotan’s parents share experience, decry no-knock warrants at UA event

FAYETTEVILLE -- No-knock warrants too often have tragic outcomes, and if they had been banned in Minneapolis, "that could've saved [my son's] life," said Andre "Buddy" Locke Sr.

In February 2022, his son, Amir Locke, 22, was shot and killed by police officers during a no-knock warrant in Minneapolis. He was sleeping on a couch when a SWAT team entered the living room of his cousin's apartment. He woke up and grabbed a nearby handgun -- which he was licensed to carry -- and was shot three times. Police were searching for a homicide suspect who was not home at the time, and Locke was not a part of the investigation.

"He was sleeping," he was then "startled," and he "couldn't even get the covers off his head," Locke's father said Thursday. "That definitely hurt [and] this is what we live with daily."

Read more about the event at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.