Minneapolis residents are calling for interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman’s resignation after the fatal police shooting of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man.
via: NBC News
Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by Minneapolis police Wednesday as officers served a no-knock warrant at an apartment shortly before 7 a.m.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and activist who confronted Mayor Jacob Frey and interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman at a news conference Thursday, listed the group’s demands.
“I’m honored to stand in solidarity with the family of Amir Locke, but the reality is that we should not have to be here,” said Armstrong, who was surrounded by women holding signs with Locke’s photo and the words “Justice for Amir Locke.” “How many more Black lives have to be lost and needlessly taken by those who are supposed to protect and serve?”
She demanded that Frey immediately fire Mark Hanneman, the Minneapolis police officer who she said fatally shot Locke, as well as called for the immediate firing or resignation of Huffman, who she said has proven herself unfit to lead the department.
“She failed — miserably,” Armstrong said. Huffman failed to “speak truthfully and candidly” about what transpired at the apartment and to take accountability, Armstrong said.
“We do not want a chief who continues with business as usual,” Armstrong said. “Even after the body camera footage was released, she continued to distort the truth,” to pretend that Locke was a suspect and to focus on a gun he had a license to carry, she said. She also questioned Huffman’s recent appointments, some of whom, Armstrong said, “had long disciplinary records.”
“So we ask that Mayor Jacob Frey step up to the plate immediately,” Armstrong said. “No more excuses, no more hiding behind policies that do not fully get implemented.”
Frey said in a statement Friday that no-knock warrants would not be allowed while the city reviewed its policy. A spokesperson for Frey and for the police department did not immediately return requests for comment about the group’s demands.
Just for Amir Locke.
