Arrest Made in Saint Paul Murder; Suspect in Warrant That Led to Amir Locke Killing
A suspect sought in connection to a January homicide in Saint Paul was arrested Monday in Winona, authorities have confirmed. The 17-year-old was the subject named in a search warrant served in downtown Minneapolis last week which ended in the police killing of 22-year-old Amir Locke, who was shot while inside a Bolero Flats apartment early Wednesday and not named on the warrant.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has charged Mekhi Camden Speed, 17, with two counts of 2nd-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 10 shooting death of Otis Rodney Elder, 38, in Saint Paul.
According to court documents, around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 10, officers and medics responded to an address near Prior Ave. & Oakley Ave. for a report of a man on the ground who had been shot. The man, later identified as Elder, was transported to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
PREVIOUSLY: Bodycam Video Released in Fatal Minneapolis Police Shooting of Amir Locke
YOUTUBE: Watch the bodycam video (Warning: graphic)
The documents said Elder was found near a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe with the driver’s side door open and loose cash and suspected marijuana in the front of the vehicle.
On Jan. 12, an investigator spoke with a witness of the shooting, who said he had been with Elder prior to the incident. That witness said he observed a male suspect standing outside of Elder’s vehicle who shot into it while another man was in the passenger seat.
The witness then reported a silver Mercedes-Benz sped away from the area, according to the documents. The silver Mercedes-Benz had front-end damage, a lit front emblem and it had been reported stolen on Nov. 27, 2021. Investigators suspected the Mercedes-Benz was a vehicle that had been used in numerous prior crimes including an armed robbery on Dec. 6, an armed robbery on Dec. 28, an attempted armed robbery on Dec. 28, involved in another gun possession report on Dec. 28, and a police pursuit on Dec. 28, 2021.
On Jan. 21, 2022, a Minneapolis police officer observed the stolen Mercedes-Benz in the Leamington parking ramp in Minneapolis. Saint Paul investigators recovered the vehicle and found that the inside of the vehicle had been sprayed with a white and yellow powder that appeared to be substance from a fire extinguisher.
On Jan. 22, investigators obtained videos of the stolen Mercedes-Benz being left at the Leamington ramp on Jan. 11, where it had remained until it was found Jan. 21. The video showed that the vehicle had been driven into the Leamington ramp four hours after Elder’s murder at 12:49 a.m. on Jan. 11. The video showed four males got out of the vehicle and took items out of the trunk. One of the males went back into the vehicle and the group then left the vehicle in the ramp.
On Jan. 22, the documents say, an investigator obtained a video of the murder of Elder. In the video, a light-colored vehicle, later determined to be the Mercedes-Benz, parked near Elder’s vehicle at 9:20 p.m. Two males exited the Mercedes-Benz and approached Elder’s vehicle. One male entered the passenger side of Elder’s vehicle while the other approached the driver’s side, standing outside of the driver’s door where Elder was sitting. This male stepped back and a loud gunshot was heard on the video. The male standing outside of Elder’s door opened the driver’s side door and picked up items from the ground and from inside of Elder’s vehicle. The passenger side door opened and the other male got out of the vehicle. Both males ran towards the Mercedes-Benz. When the video was enhanced, investigators could see that the male who fired into the vehicle wore a dark jacket and light-colored hooded sweatshirt and white shoes. This male got into the passenger seat of the Mercedes-Benz. The second male got into the driver’s seat of the Mercedes-Benz.
From Jan. 10-23, 2022, investigators obtained and reviewed CCTV MnDOT camera video recordings of the Mercedes-Benz after it left the scene of the murder on Jan. 10. Investigators tracked the Mercedes-Benz after it sped away from the scene to Bolero Flats, an apartment building in downtown Minneapolis.
At 9:38 p.m., the Mercedes-Benz pulled up to Bolero Flats and parked. In response to a squad’s presence, the Mercedes-Benz left, but returned again at 10:16 p.m., entering a parking ramp adjacent to the building.
Investigators obtained video of three males that exited the Mercedes-Benz and went into the Bolero Flats apartment building. Two of the males appeared to be the two males at the scene of the murder as they looked similar and wore the same clothing that could be seen on the enhanced video of the murder, the documents said. The male suspected of shooting Elder still wore a dark jacket and light-colored hooded sweatshirt and white shoes. This same suspect appeared to have an item in the front pocket of his sweatshirt that he concealed as he left the Mercedes-Benz and went into Bolero Flats. The male in the light-colored hooded sweatshirt used a key fob to get into the building, the documents noted.
On Jan. 24, investigators met with witnesses at the Bolero Flats. Witnesses identified the male in the video who exited the stolen Mercedes-Benz and used a key fob to get into the building on Jan. 10, 2022 after the murder as Mekhi Camden Speed. Staff at the Bolero Flats advised investigators that Speed was listed as an occupant with his mother. Speed also had a key fob for apartment 701, where his brother lived. As investigators were at the building, Speed was recorded using the key fob for apartment 701 to leave the building.
On Jan. 24, investigators spoke with a Hennepin County official who said he was familiar with Mekhi Speed because he was on probation. Speed reported his address to probation as the Bolero Flats apartment and that official identified Speed in the video from Bolero Flats after the Saint Paul murder.
On Jan. 24, investigators compared the video of Mekhi Speed from Bolero Flats to the video of the group leaving the stolen Mercedes-Benz at the Leamington parking ramp on Jan. 11, approximately four hours after the murder. Speed was in the video at the Leamington parking ramp and was seen exiting the front passenger seat of the Mercedes-Benz, leaving with the group, according to the documents. Speed wore a Canada Goose black jacket with fur, a black winter facemask over his face, a white or grey hooded sweatshirt, black pants and white shoes. Speed brushed a substance (suspected fire extinguisher substance) off his jacket.
As of Feb. 2, 2022, the Saint Paul and Minneapolis police departments had search warrants that authorized the search of three apartments at Bolero Flats. Officers also had ''probable cause pick up and holds'' to arrest Mekhi Speed and two of his associates for murder and aiding an offender after the fact, the documents said.
In the early morning of Feb. 2, officers executed the warrant at apartment 701. Speed’s brother’s girlfriend was the registered occupant of apartment 701 and Speed’s brother also stayed at the apartment, the court documents said. Police and Fire had been to the apartment on numerous occasions in the past and Speed had been present in apartment 701 as recent as Jan. 2022, during one of the calls.
According to records from Bolero Flats, Speed had used a key fob for apartment 701 to access and leave the building. Speed’s brother, his girlfriend and Speed’s cousin, 22-year-old Amir Locke, were inside the unit when the warrant was executed.
When officers used the key fob to get in, one can be seen kicking a couch inside the unit, according to bodycam video released last week by the city of Minneapolis. Locke, sleeping on the couch, wakes up and is seen with a handgun in his right hand. A SWAT officer shot and fatally injured Locke, who was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
Neither Speed nor his mother were found in the other two apartment units.
PREVIOUSLY: Bodycam Video Released in Fatal Minneapolis Police Shooting of Amir Locke
YOUTUBE: Watch the bodycam video (Warning: graphic)
On Feb. 6, 2022, the Saint Paul Police Department Forensic Unit issued a report that said a latent print lifted from the exterior right front door of the Mercedes-Benz was identified as having been made by Speed’s right middle finger, documents said. From January 24-February 6, 2022, many law enforcement officers attempted to locate him, surveilled his residence and other locations he was known to frequent, contacted his mother multiple times, contacted his probation officer and attempted to use other tracking information.
On Monday, police located Speed in Winona, Minn. with a loaded gun in his jacket, according to court documents. He was arrested, transported to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center and initially refused to speak with investigators, the documents said.
Prosecutors have filed a motion to charge Speed as an adult in relation to the January homicide. His booking photo was not immediately available.
Locke’s family members say he was legally in possession of the firearm and was not wanted for a crime. The 22-year-old had no court history in Minnesota and was not named on the search warrant signed for the units inside the building.
The officer who shot Locke was identified in city documents as Mark Hanneman, a Minneapolis officer since 2015 and previously an officer in Hutchinson, Minn. A city personnel file lists three complaints have been filed in Hanneman’s tenure at MPD, with all three cleared and no discipline issued.
Locke’s killing has sparked a new round of protest in Minneapolis and attention around the world. Mayor Jacob Frey says he has further restricted the use of no-knock warrants in the city, though some are calling for Hanneman’s firing, Frey’s resignation or both.
PREVIOUSLY: Minneapolis SWAT Officer Shoots, Kills Man During Search Warrant