Amir Locke funeral set for Thursday; Sharpton to officiate

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The funeral for Amir Locke, the 22-year-old Black man who was shot by Minneapolis police executing a search warrant, will be held Thursday in the church that hosted Daunte Wright’s funeral last April.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who also officiated Wright’s funeral days after the young Black man was shot by a suburban Minneapolis police officer, will officiate services for Locke at Shiloh Temple International Ministries.

Locke’s family planned a public viewing at 10 a.m. followed by the funeral service at 11 a.m.

Locke was shot by a SWAT team member on Feb. 2 as officers were serving a search warrant in a St. Paul homicide case shortly before 7 a.m. Body camera video showed at least four officers using a key to quietly enter the downtown apartment where he was staying, then shouting their presence. The video shows Locke, wrapped in a comforter, stirring and holding a handgun right before an officer shot him.

Locke wasn’t named in the warrants. Family members called his killing an “execution,” noting the video shows an officer kicking the sofa, and suggested Locke was startled awake and was disoriented. They have demanded that Minnesota lawmakers ban no-knock warrants statewide.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has imposed a moratorium on such warrants while the city reexamines its policy. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating Locke’s shooting.