Thread by @StephenGutowski

This is a pretty disturbing justification for a nighttime no-knock raid given the most popular rifle in America uses .223 ammunition.

https://twitter.com/2Aupdates/status/1491860543078080518

Some of these other justifications hold more water, but the Amir Locke shooting is further evidence of how high-risk these kinds of tactics are for everyone involved.

I don't discount the danger involved in apprehending murder suspects (Amir Locke was not a suspect and did not have a criminal record), but justifying an escalation of tactics because the home you're raiding may have an AR-15 inside seems like it has wide-ranging consequences.

I'm not sure there are simple answers to what should have happened instead since there are legitimate concerns about evidence destruction and the potential for a shootout with an armed murder suspect. The justification still seems flimsy to me.

Although, there was one extremely simple way to have avoided this: don't raid the wrong house. Amir Locke wasn't a suspect in the murder. The suspect police were looking for, Locke's cousin, wasn't there that night. startribune.com/court-filing-j…