Minneapolis officer who fatally shot Amir Locke heads MPD’s new use-of-force training
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The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke during a no-knock raid in 2022 is the instructor responsible for leading the police department’s use-of-force training, the police department confirmed.
Police chief Brian O’Hara said Sgt. Mark Hanneman, who’s been with MPD for nearly a decade, is an “outstanding” trainer committed to bringing positive change to MPD. But Locke’s family and other community members say nothing justifies placing the officer who shot and killed a 22-year-old Black man at the helm of use-of-force training.
They say it calls into question the department’s commitment to reform and repairing trust after the police murder of George Floyd.
“If Hanneman is one of the best officers to become a training officer, why is my son Amir Locke not here?” said Karen Wells, Amir Locke’s mother. “They show they don’t care. They show that this is our culture.”
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Locke, who was not a suspect, was sleeping when the raid began and was shot within nine seconds of the officers’ arrival, according to body cam footage.
Hanneman was not criminally charged in the killing. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and then-Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman cited a state statute that gives officers wide discretion to use deadly force if there’s a threat of death or great bodily harm, given what the officer knew at the time.
Wells and Locke’s father are suing Hanneman and the city over their son’s death. The federal lawsuit alleges that their son’s constitutional rights were violated, that MPD failed to adequately train officers and that the department has a history of using excessive force and no-knock warrants against people of color.
“Anybody that stands behind Mark Hanneman becoming a trainer for other officers, they are going to continue to have the bloodshed of my baby boy, Amir Locke, on their watch, on their hands,” Wells said. “My son was a 22-year-old young man who had a bright future ahead of him, and now he can’t live that out.”
Who should teach the department’s new use-of-force policies?
Revelations over Hanneman’s position come as he leads the department through training on new use-of-force policies.
Those new policies and training are mandated by a settlement agreement between the city and Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR).
After then-police officer Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd, MDHR launched a two-year probe into the police department and city. It concluded that MPD engaged in a pattern of racially discriminatory policing caused by an organizational culture of flawed training, deficient accountability systems and “a lack of collective and sustained action among City and MPD leaders.” It found that for years, this allowed the unchecked use of excessive and, at times, lethal force be used disproportionately against Black and Native American residents.
Hanneman — whose shooting of Locke brought hundreds to the streets in protest in 2022 and calls for his termination from Minnesota’s NAACP — is now a face of changing those patterns.
“For transformational change to take root, city leaders must understand the significance and impact of this and many decisions,” MDHR Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said in a statement. “The Department of Human Rights continues to stress that without fundamental organizational culture change, reforming MPD’s policies, procedures and trainings will be meaningless. The tremendous amount of work that lies ahead for the city, including MPD, cannot be understated.”
“The officer who killed Amir while serving a no-knock warrant should not have been put in a position to lead MPD’s use-of-force training,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in an emailed statement.
“Regardless of the professional skillset, choosing this individual undermines trust and ultimately harms our community. It’s concerning that this happened amid constant talk of building community trust,” she said.
Chief O’Hara said he understands the concerns, but he believes the decision to have Hanneman lead use-of-force trainings will advance cultural change within the department. He said Hanneman, more than others, is a leader in “selling these reforms” to the department. O’Hara added Hanneman has been instrumental in helping develop new use-of-force policies and the training itself.
“The No. 1 commitment that we have is to ensure we’re doing everything we can to make reform real,” O’Hara said. “I know this is difficult and I know a lot of people aren’t going to be happy with it, but I think at this point, having him there, based on all of the information that I have been provided, is the best decision that I can make to continue to advance the reform effort.”
The shooting of Amir Locke
Body camera footage from the night of Feb. 2, 2022, shows a SWAT team bursting into an apartment where Amir Locke was sleeping under a blanket on his cousin’s couch. Upon being woken up by six officers who were shouting, pointing flashlights and armed with firearms, Locke reached for and held a pistol.
Hanneman shot Locke three times.
In footage released after the shooting, Hanneman is heard shouting “he’s got a gun,” immediately after firing.
Officers were looking for a suspect in a homicide investigation. Locke was not a suspect, though an initial MPD news release falsely stated he was. He had no criminal record, and his family said he was a legal gun owner with a permit to carry.
The shooting occurred nearly two years after police murdered George Floyd and reignited outcry of yet another Black man killed by police. It also prompted concerns about the department’s practices that allowed the shooting to occur — including the use of no-knock warrants.
Between 2010 and 2016, 81 civilians and 13 law enforcement officers were killed in no-knock and quick-knock raids across the nation, according to a New York Times investigation. In Minneapolis, no-knock warrants carried out by MPD in the months prior to Locke’s shooting targeted only people of color, a KARE 11 investigation found.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had previously campaigned on having directed a “ban” on the warrants, leading to confusion and frustration after news of Locke’s death spread. Frey clarified to MPR News in 2022 that the policy ended the practice of police entering unannounced. Frey would later tighten up restrictions in most situations — a requirement later also mandated by the state agreement. In Minneapolis, police are now required to wait 20 seconds for occupants to respond before entering during the day and 30 seconds at night.
Two months after Locke’s death, the day after it was announced Hanneman would not face criminal charges, O’Hara said Hanneman began training others in the department on active bystandership; then later ICAT, or Integrating Communications Assessment and Tactics, a type of use-of-force training that emphasizes critical thinking and de-escalation.
Nearly seven months after Locke’s death, Hanneman was promoted to lead training. Amelia Huffman was the interim chief at the time.
In November, O’Hara took the job as the new police chief. He said he was initially concerned about Hanneman’s placement but decided to keep him in the role after getting feedback from MPD leadership, other officers and his own observation.
“It’s not lost on the MPD that this incident was a tragedy, and so that’s why it is important that we do everything we possibly can so that we do not create a situation like this ever again,” O’Hara said. “This is a complex issue and I wouldn’t expect anyone to understand what has taken me time to get information on and get reports and to learn about, because they don’t know Sgt. Hanneman and they don’t know his commitment to reform or the quality of the work he has done.”
Effective Law Enforcement For All (ELEFA) co-leader Michael Harrison said he understood Hanneman is widely regarded as a “really, really good trainer,” affirmed by the monitoring team’s own observations. Hanneman was also involved in developing a new training course and use-of-force policies that were approved by both MDHR and ELEFA.
He said after MDHR raised concerns about the assignment with ELEFA in March, members of the monitoring team met with O’Hara to share those concerns. Harrison said it seemed O’Hara was going to move Hanneman. However, Hanneman was at the front of the classroom when the new use-of-force training began. It’s set to continue through August.
City officials question MPD’s judgement
Despite the chief’s determination that Hanneman is the best person to lead the use-of-force training, others say it was an obviously wrong choice.
“Officers who harm residents shouldn’t be promoted,” Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley said in an emailed statement. “Elevating Hanneman to lead use-of-force training sends a clear message: killing Black residents doesn’t hinder advancement in MPD.”
Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne said in an interview he had not been aware of Hanneman’s assignment until MPR News asked him about it. He characterized Hanneman’s appointment to the training unit as “poor judgment,” saying it undermines the work “we thought they were doing around rebuilding trust with the community.”
“I think it should have been self-evident the harm that even the symbolism of this assignment would be,” he said. “Arriving at some technocratic decision that there was no policy violation and therefore everything is OK, would make me question the judgment of somebody around what the work is ahead for reforming police.”
Correction (July 15, 2025): A previous version of the story misspelled Elliott Payne’s name. The story has been updated.
