Amir Locke’s cousin arrested in probe that led to fatal raid

MINNEAPOLIS — Authorities arrested Amir Locke’s 17-year-old cousin in connection with the homicide investigation that led police to the Minneapolis apartment where a SWAT team officer fatally shot Locke while conducting a no-knock search warrant.

Prosecutors have charged Mehki Camden Speed with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 10 killing of 38-year-old Otis Elder.

According to Hubbard sister station, KSTP-TV, Speed is now in custody after he was found in Winona. Prosecutors say they will file a petition to have Speed stand trial as an adult. The petition states Locke was Speed’s cousin.

KSTP-TV reports the juvenile petition says investigators were able to use traffic videos to track a Mercedes-Benz that sped away from the scene of Elder’s death to a Minneapolis apartment building, the Bolero Flats. Witnesses there were able to identify the boy in the Mercedes-Benz as Speed. It also states that the teen was listed as living in one apartment but had a key fob for another apartment, and one of the people Speed later returned with was associated with a third apartment.

Police had probable cause to arrest Speed and two of his associates for murder by Feb. 2 and obtained search warrants for all three apartments they were associated with, the petition states.

According to the petition, officers knew Speed had been in the apartment where Locke was fatally shot by police last month. It adds that investigators did find a jacket Speed was seen wearing from the apartment where Locke was shot.

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The same morning officers shot Locke, police also executed a warrant at the two other apartments Speed was associated with. At one of them, nobody was home but police found a hat the teen was seen wearing after Elder’s murder, as well as a black duffel bag and a jacket worn by someone else Speed was seen with after Elder’s murder.

At the other apartment, one person was present but not Speed or his associates. Investigators seized a “large amount” of marijuana from that apartment.

Officers were able to find Speed in Winona on Sunday. When officers approached him, he ran but was arrested. The petition states he had a loaded gun in his jacket and refused to speak to investigators.

The death of Locke, who was Black, has sparked protests and prompted an immediate reexamination of no-knock arrest warrants, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey last week announcing a moratorium while the city brings in outside experts to study its policy.