‘The anatomy of a coverup:' Citizens dispute statements made by police department

The day after Minneapolis Police Officer Mark Hanneman shot and killed Amir Locke while executing a search warrant raid of a downtown apartment on behalf of the St. Paul Police Department, mayor Jacob Frey and Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman released the body-worn camera footage and held a press conference. Community members confronted the mayor and chief, exposing several contradictions between the press release that had been issued by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) the previous day, Chief Huffman’s own statements and the body-worn camera video footage itself.

One of the questions asked was whether Locke was considered a suspect in any crime. Chief Huffman said she couldn’t speak to the St. Paul investigation which led to the Minneapolis search warrant, in which Locke was not named. The MPD, however, referred to Locke as a “suspect” four times in its press release.

A voice off camera asked, “Why would you refer to him as a suspect in a press release if you didn’t know?” This went unanswered.

Community members also took issue with MPD’s account of how the police alerted the victim to their presence. The press release stated:

“Officers gained entry to the target apartment on the seventh floor, loudly and repeatedly announced their presence, crossed the threshold of the apartment, and advanced with continued loud announcements of their presence.”

The implication is officers yelled first, entered next. But the footage shows a door that is open before officers are heard shouting. When asked to clarify, the chief replied, “Right, so in the video, they open the door with a key and announce ‘police search warrant’ before they enter the apartment.” Voices off camera called, “That’s not true,” “It’s just not true.”

Likewise, the press release claimed:

“Approximately 9 seconds into the entry, officers encountered a male who was armed with a handgun pointed in the direction of officers.”

The claim was also made by Chief Huffman, who asserted that the involved officer was just outside the frame in the direction that the barrel is emerging from the blanket. A voice off camera said, “It looked to me as if that gun and Amir Locke’s hand was pointed toward the floor.”

Both of these points were heavily disputed by family members and activists, including licensed gun owners, after viewing the video.

Michelle Gross, president of Citizens United Against Police Brutality, asked repeatedly why the MPD released pictures of Locke’s gun, even though he never fired his weapon, and not a picture of the gun used by the officer to kill him.

“It was sensationalistic demonization of a victim of police murder. Plain and simple,” she said. “There was not one legitimate reason for releasing that picture. It was about associating a man with a gun to try to create a narrative to justify what the police did.”

After many questions went unanswered, Nekima Levy Armstrong, of Racial Justice Network, walked to the podium.

“This is what I would call the anatomy of a coverup,” she said. Levy Armstrong, who co-chairs the city’s Community Safety Workgroup, said it was unacceptable to hide behind the St. Paul Police Department, “the deadliest police force in the State of Minnesota,” and that the MPD had no business agreeing to carry out a warrant if they were going to claim they didn’t know the details.

“We don’t want to see coverups. We don’t wanna see whitewashing,” she said. “People are asking very simple questions that are still not being answered.”