Minneapolis officer who killed Amir Locke will stop leading police use-of-force training
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The Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Amir Locke during a no-knock raid in 2022 and who was later named the lead use-of-force trainer has been reassigned.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara announced Friday that Sgt. Mark Hanneman is being moved to MPD’s new wellness unit and that Thursday was his last day in the training division.
The decision follows backlash against the mayor and chief from community members, racial justice advocates and the family of Amir Locke. They said placing the man who killed a 22-year-old Black man in that position undermined MPD’s efforts toward reform and was a slap in the face to Locke’s family and the community.
MPR News first reported on Hanneman’s role as use-of-force trainer last week. He had been a trainer since September 2022 when he was also promoted to sergeant, about seven months after Locke’s death.
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On Tuesday, O’Hara said Hanneman would finish out the department-wide use-of-force training in August, when it is anticipated to end. However, four days later, O’Hara said the decision to move Hanneman sooner came from conversations about community trust with Mayor Jacob Frey and Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette.
“We have been working relentlessly to reform our policing practices while repairing community relationships and trust in our department. We can’t afford to have anything distract from that progress. After speaking with Sgt. Hanneman, Mayor Frey and Commissioner Barnette, we determined that a reassignment was the right decision,” O’Hara said. “This move allows Sgt. Hanneman to continue supporting the department’s progress while also acknowledging the importance of maintaining community trust.”
Earlier this week, a group of police accountability and racial justice advocates took to City Hall to speak out. That included representatives from groups like Communities United Against Police Brutality. Amir Locke’s parents were also there, including his father Andre Locke.
“Here we go again. Me here having to humanize my son, to tell you that he was a human being, to express to you that he had a heart that was beating, ” Locke said.
The group at City Hall included Civil Rights Attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, who called for Hanneman to be removed from his position and criticized Frey for what she said was a failure to reform MPD, including campaigning in 2021 on having banned no-knock warrants before Amir Locke was killed in a no-knock raid.
She said Hanneman’s appointment was specifically triggering to community members because of the continued trauma of Derek Chauvin, a field training supervisor, murdering George Floyd.
She also told MPR News in a separate interview that the mayor, who is granted “complete power” over the police department by the city charter, should be hyper-vigilant to the police department, especially in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
At Saturday’s DFL convention, Mayor Jacob Frey was booed by audience members while responding to a question about the decision to put the officer who fatally shot Amir Locke at the front of use-of-force training. Frey said he chose O’Hara to lead MPD because of O’Hara’s previous experience leading police reform efforts.
“I trust the decisions that he makes, and I would hope that other candidates up here would also give a deep respect for the Chief of Police as they make decisions,” Frey said. “Because if they don't, then they're going to be spending quite a bit of time making individual personnel decisions for each police officer.”
All other mayoral candidates — Jazz Hampton, Rev. DeWayne Davis, Brenda Short and State Sen. Omar Fateh — said it was a clear wrong choice. Fateh — who won the first Minneapolis DFL mayoral endorsement since 2009 — turned to the audience and asked: “Should any officer that has caused harm in our community, to any family, any person be allowed to go on to train other officers?”
A chorus of voices responded with a loud “no.”
In Hanneman’s new role, he will help build out the new wellness team, a city spokesperson said. Hanneman will be tasked with helping support officer health and well-being through peer support programs and connection to wellness resources.
The spokesperson said it’s part of broader department-wide efforts to strengthen overall health resources for the department.
Under the state settlement agreement, MPD is required to bolster its support for officer well-being. The most recent report from Effective Law Enforcement For All, or ELEFA, the independent monitor helping MPD comply with the agreement, said the staffing in MPD’s wellness unit was insufficient. As of March 31, 2025, there were “only two dedicated full-time positions” to meet all of the department’s needs.
O’Hara had said in a previous interview with MPR News that Hanneman was a leader among other police officers for delivering the message of why MPD needed to change. In the announcement Friday, O’Hara said Hanneman accepted the new position and this demonstrated his commitment to cultural change.
