Minneapolis Man Killed By Police In No-Knock Warrant 9 Secs After Entry

[rogue06]

"The rules of gunfighting"?

Reminds me of the cowboy movie where some reporter or novelist was following a well-known gun slinger wanting to write about his exploits. The reporter was mortified that during one fight the gunslinger shot his target in the back when he encountered him. After the reporter finished scolding the gun slinger the latter looked at him like he was a complete idiot and explained that he shot him in the back [paraphrasing] "because that's the direction he had facing me."

IOW, there are no rules in that sort of a fight. It isn't a duel. It's kill or be killed.

[Gondwanaland]

You are making the case for why no-knocks should be done away with or severely curtailed, but not for the police on scene behaving in a manner that deserves their being arrested.

The fact that none of the cops will face charg3s or punishment is indeed a case for why no-knock warrants which amount to legal execution orders, should be vanned

[Mountain Man]

Reminds me of the cowboy movie where some reporter or novelist was following a well-known gun slinger wanting to write about his exploits. The reporter was mortified that during one fight the gunslinger shot his target in the back when he encountered him. After the reporter finished scolding the gun slinger the latter looked at him like he was a complete idiot and explained that he shot him in the back [paraphrasing] "because that's the direction he had facing me."

IOW, there are no rules in that sort of a fight. It isn't a duel. It's kill or be killed.

Was that Unforgiven? There's a line in that movie where the reporter just witnessed Clint Eastwood's character killing six men in a shootout. The reporter starts asking what his strategy was, his thought process, how he decided who to shoot first. The gunslinger, who at this point was calmly sitting at the bar drinking whisky, responded with something like, "I didn't think about it. I just kept shooting until they were dead, or I was. Now if you're done asking questions, I suggest you leave, or I might kill one more just for the hell of it."

[Gondwanaland]

This is something that should enrage anyone who cares about basic 2nd Amendment rights. It's long past time for these no-knock warrants to be banned.

Amir Locke was asleep on a couch under a blanket. Minneapolis Police- their SWAT team, busted into a home they had a no knock warrant for. Locke, 22 years old, was NOT named on the warrant, and was the legal owner of a firearm (as well as had a concealed carry permit as well. Said firearm was what he grabbed (and didn't even point at police when he was shot - in fact he never even saw his killer, as he was gunned down with his blanket still mostly over his head) when jolted out of his sleep by the jackbooted invasion into the apartment with mixed yells claiming to be police.

He had every right grab the barrel of his firearm (which is what he did) against the home invaders the police were behaving as. Hell, he even should have had every right to shoot them, if he had done so. He had no reason to believe the people invading were actually police, let alone that they had a warrant. And sadly he died because of this unconstitutional no-knock warrant garbage violating his basic 2nd Amendment rights and his right to self-defense, and it is unlikely anyone will face any real consequences.

Even worse, St Paul police, the ones that requested the warrant, never requested a no-knock warrant. But the address was within Minneapolis PD territory, and they demanded the no-knock. They were also caught lying about when they announced themselves, originally claiming they announced before entering, when instead they did not and only announced with jumbled shouting of various officers, after they were already in the apartment, lights shining, kicking the couch that Locke was sleeping on.

https://reason.com/2022/02/04/amir-l...id-gun-rights/
Sadly I suspect that the NRA will remain silent cowards just like they were during the Castile case - one of the reasons they lost my support after many years with their unwillingness to defend the 2nd amendment rights of anyone other than white dudes - they made it very clear they don't care about the rights of people that look like me.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/minneapol...161258408.html



KARE-11: St. Paul police did not request a 'no-knock' warrant in MPD raid that led to Amir Locke's death




No-knock warrants are a cancer to the basic rights of citizens, and need to be eradicated.

Well one good thing has happened as a result despite not even a slap on the wrist of the officers.

The Mayor finally got off his butt and the city has now banned no-knock warrants (he'd claimed to have done so after Breonna Taylor made headlines but only banned a limited amount of them, allowing this state-sanctioned summary execution of Amir Locke to occur)

Now the Minneapolis PD cannot do no knock warrants and must always knock and announce and wait at least 20 seconds, and are limited on when they can force entry, with warrants being ranked on a tier basis. Low tier warrants they cannot force entry, and mid tier require two supervisors to sign off. High tier they can breach after knocking, but those require SWAT to be used and need a commander to sign off, and then high tier night warrants will require even more, with the deputy chief of investigations or a higher rank to sign off.

Its a good step but more still needs to be changed (particularly the 20 seconds - that certainly needs an increase, especially if there might be elderly, physically disabled, or hard of hearing people in the home). Especially police training. And the "exigent circumstances" exception for entry of "as well as the need to prevent the destruction of narcotics." needs to be removed as well

https://reason.com/2022/04/08/minnea...nock-warrants/

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has announced an end to no-knock search warrants in the city. The policy will ban city police from using or requesting no-knock warrants and implement modest reforms for how long police must wait to enter property after announcing themselves. But does the new policy go far enough to prevent needless deaths?

The change was inspired by the February death of Amir Locke, who was sleeping on his cousin's couch when police executed a pre-dawn, no-knock raid. Locke responded to the aggressive intrusion by reaching for a gun that he was licensed to carry. Before Locke ever touched the trigger, a Minneapolis Police Department officer shot him three times from mere feet away. Locke later died.

"We accomplished what we set out to do," Frey said in a press release, "This policy is among the most forward-looking and extensive in the nation and will help keep both our residents and officers safe. I'm grateful for all our internal and external partners who provided data, feedback, and guidance in the creation of this policy. Their efforts will have a lasting impact on public safety in Minneapolis."

The policy mandates that police knock and wait for at least 20 seconds before entering. For warrants served between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m., the waiting period extends to 30 seconds. The new policy has exceptions for "exigent circumstances," a list that includes stopping a suspect from attempting an escape or from harming themselves or someone else, as well as the need to prevent the destruction of narcotics.

The policy also classifies search warrants into low-, medium-, or high-risk categories. Officers are not allowed to use forced entry for low-risk warrants unless exigent circumstances arise. Medium-risk search warrants must be signed off by two supervisors. High-risk warrants will only be carried out by SWAT and must be approved by a commander. If conducted at night, they must be signed off by the deputy chief of investigations or someone above that rank.

But is this enough?

Following Locke's death, Reason's Jacob Sullum observed that knocking and waiting, as opposed to entering without announcement, often still leads to unnecessary violence. "The Louisville cops banged on the door of [Breonna] Taylor's apartment for about 30 seconds before breaking in and claimed they also announced themselves," Sullum wrote. "She and [Kenneth] Walker still did not realize the intruders were police officers." Taylor was killed by police and Walker was charged for using a gun in self-defense.

Sullum called for "a fundamental reevaluation" of "dynamic entry" tactics. While Minneapolis's new policy may reduce the frequency of the riskiest kinds of raids, by preserving dynamic entry as an acceptable police practice, the city still leaves far too much room for tragedy.

[rogue06]

The fact that none of the cops will face charg3s or punishment is indeed a case for why no-knock warrants which amount to legal execution orders, should be vanned

I don't see the cops having done anything they could be charged for. They followed proper procedure. It's the whole No-Knock thing being employed where it never should have been used, and that wasn't likely the call by those on the scene executing it.

[rogue06]

Was that Unforgiven? There's a line in that movie where the reporter just witnessed Clint Eastwood's character killing six men in a shootout. The reporter starts asking what his strategy was, his thought process, how he decided who to shoot first. The gunslinger, who at this point was calmly sitting at the bar drinking whisky, responded with something like, "I didn't think about it. I just kept shooting until they were dead, or I was. Now if you're done asking questions, I suggest you leave, or I might kill one more just for the hell of it."

No. The gunslinger in that movie who had the reporter tagging along just ended up being nearly beaten to death.

It was something like Silverado but a bit latter IIRC.