Minneapolis is once again in the public’s eye for the police killing of a young Black man, Amir Locke.

Locke was shot by police who burst into the apartment he was sleeping in on a no-nock warrant. Police used a key to open the apartand burst in shouting that they were police serving a warrant. Police body-cam images show Locke stirring under the comforter where he was sleeping after police kicked the couch. His hand emerged with a gun, and he was shot by a Minneapolis officer just seconds after the raid started.

Was Locke going to shoot police, or was he startled, groggy with sleep, reacting to the noise he didn’t understand?

The no-knock entrance didn’t give him a chance to make a reasonable, rational decision.

In response, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants. In November 2020 he had limited no-knock warrants with the exception of cases where there was imminent danger to the public or an individual. It didn’t work.

If police had used a regular warrant entry, knocking on the door first, announcing who they were and giving those inside a chance to respond, Locke might have had a chance to wake up, put his gun down and respond to the entrance of police without threatening them.

There are, no doubt, circumstances where no-knock warrants may be necessary. This was not one of them.