Mekhi Camden Speed, who was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder in Otis Elder’s Jan. 10 death, was due to appear in juvenile court. Speed could be tried as an adult by the prosecution, but that would depend on the decision of a judge. Minnesota law presumes that a child will be tried as an adult if he or she is 16 years old. The alleged crime would lead to a sentence in prison or a felony involving firearms.
Speed did not have an attorney. Speed’s mother did not respond to a message sent via social media. A message left at her phone number was also not returned.
Locke’s murder has provoked protests. There were hundreds at a rally in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, while students from area high schools planned a walkout Tuesday and an immediate reexamination for no-knock warrants. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced last week a moratorium upon such warrantswhile outside experts are brought in to review the city’s policy. A few state legislators are calling for a ban on the entire state, except in exceptional circumstances.
As part of their investigation into Elder’s death, St. Paul police obtained search warrants. This included a warrant for Locke’s apartment in downtown Minneapolis. Amelia Huffman, Minneapolis Interim Police Chief, stated that her department had both warrants which would have required authorities not to knock. Huffman stated that Locke wasn’t named in the search warrants.
On February 2, a SWAT team from Minneapolis entered the unit and left without a knock. A body camera video shows a police officer opening the door with a key and entering. The officers are followed by at most four officers wearing uniforms and protective vests. They shout repeatedly, “Police! Search warrant!” Locke is shown wrapped in a blanket and holding a gun. The video ends after three shots.
A still image of Locke holding the gun and his trigger finger on the barrel was also released by the city.
Minneapolis police claim that Locke was killed after he pointed his gun at officers. However, Locke’s family disputes that.
Locke’s family attorneys, Ben Crump included, stated in a statement, that Speed was not present at Unit 701, where the no knock warrant and Amir were executed. The attorneys claimed that Locke is now the latest victim of the intrusive and dangerous no-knock mandate techniques that must be stopped.
Speed was charged Tuesday with using surveillance video to link him to Elder’s shooting. This is after a witness claimed that a silver Mercedes-Benz had fled from the scene. According to the document, video of Elder’s Mercedes was parked nearby and two men got out to approach — one in the passenger’s side and the other outside the driver’s.
The document states that “This male stepped back, and a loud gunshot could be heard.”
Surveillance video enabled police to track the Mercedes that had been stolen to the Bolero Flats apartment block, where three males, including two who were thought to have been at Elder’s shooting, were seen getting out. Speed was seen on the video.
Witnesses claimed that he lived in Apartment 1402, with his mother, and also had a key to 701 — the address where his brother lives and Locke was killed by police. Prosecutors said that another person was identified from the surveillance video.
Further surveillance video shows Speed and four other males leaving the Mercedes at a downtown parking lot early on Jan. 11, just hours after Elder was shot to death. It was only 10 days later that the Mercedes was found.
According to the charging petition, police had search warrants for apartments 701, 1402 & 1403, according to the charging petition. Speed and two other suspects were also arrested for murder and aiding an after-effectual offender.
Speed tried to flee from authorities when he was arrested on Monday. However, an officer stopped him and took his jacket. Speed was charged with having a loaded gun in his jacket. He refused to speak to investigators, according to the charge document.
St. Paul police stated that the warrants leading to the searchof a downtown Minneapolis apartment were likely to be unsealed once charges are brought.
Minneapolis Police Department incident detail reports show that officers considered this warrant entry to be high risk, but they don’t explain why.
According to court records, Speed was currently on supervised probation at the time of Elder’s murder. He had pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree assault and a dangerous weapon for shooting an individual in the thigh in Brooklyn Park in September 2020. Speed was 16 years old at the time. He was sentenced to an extended juvenile jurisdiction. This means that he received both an adult sentence and a juvenile sentence.
As long as he adheres to his probation, his adult sentence of three-years in prison was suspended. He was put on probation from the age of 21 and was sent to the West Regional Juvenile Centre in Minnesota. There he received an individualized treatment program that included skills training and trauma therapy. Court records also show that he was given a 24 hour supervision. He was found to have violated his probation for failing to attend school regularly and testing positive for marijuana last summer. Court records show that he was taken into custody by his mother last October. He is now under electronic monitoring for 30 days and can’t go to school. He is not permitted to own a firearm.
Speed’s brother Marlon Cornelius Speed lives in apartment 701; he was there the night Locke died, according to the charging document.
Marlon Speed pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of interfering and obstructing a law enforcement officer. This was in connection to an 2018 traffic stop where he allegedly threatened and beat up an officer. In a fight, the officer’s hand was broken. Marlon Speed was arrested last November for domestic assault by strangulation. He allegedly choked his sister when she tried to intervene after he hit his girlfriend’s girlfriend with a belt. Marlon Speed’s case is still pending.
Marlon Speed was not listed by the Associated Press as a contact person. It is not known if Speed has an attorney to represent him in connection to the SWAT search.
Elder, a 38 year-old father of two was shot and found laying on the street Jan. 10. According to the St. The St. His motives for the killing were not immediately clear.
