Tragedy strikes the MWAH! family.

Once again an innocent Black man has been killed in a botched swat team no-knock entry.

And once again Minneapolis was the site of what the victim’s parents call an execution by a police officer who had entered the wrong apartment.

The victim’s father, Andre Locke, a rap music producer and owner of a business focused on transporting people with medical needs, was a key leading member of the Chicago area-based Explosonic Rockers Street Jazz Theatrical Troupe from about 1984 to 1989. That issues-based traveling troupe with a flair for theatrical street dance, later became the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe. 

Killed was Amir Locke, age 22, who was described by his father, Andre Locke, as a bright light who deserved to be able to shine.  That light was turned off during the early morning of February 2, 2022.  Amir’s mother, Karen Wells, said her son had planned to join her in Dallas in about a week to possibly pursue his own career in music, following in his father’s musical tradition.

A police body cam video (within link below) shows the police entering the apartment without knocking, then Officer Mark Hanneman firing three rounds while Amir is seen in the video wrapped in a comforter, beginning to move, with a pistol in his hand.  There is some dispute as to where Amir’s pistol was pointed. He apparently had been awakened from a deep sleep when an officer kicked the back of the couch, startling Amir.  

Amir’s parents said their son had no criminal record and that he had a license and concealed carry permit for his gun as a precaution for his work as a DoorDash driver as well as to protect him from a rash of recent violent carjackings in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area – many of them targeting delivery drivers.

Amir’s parents described their son as respectful, including to the police, and said some of their relatives work in law enforcement.  

Andre Lock said his son never had a chance.  He was shot three times – twice in the chest. The chaotic incident lasted less than 10 seconds.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, during a hastily called news conference with Amir’s parents, said that it was shocking that Minneapolis police had not learned from the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a botched raid at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020, leading to calls for an end to no-knock warrants nationwide.

Two days following the killing of Amir Locke, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey did impose a moratorium on no-knock warrants in his city.  He added that there would be a review of police department policy with the help of experts who shaped ‘Breonna’s Law.’