ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A teenager has been sentenced to four years for his role in a St. Paul killing that prompted police in Minneapolis to execute a search warrant that led to the fatal shooting of Amir Locke by a police officer in a case that focused scrutiny on the use of no-knock warrants.
Feysal Jama Ali, 18, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty earlier to being an accomplice after the fact in the killing of Otis Elder, 38, of St. Paul, during a marijuana deal Jan. 10, 2022. Ali was sentenced Wednesday as part of his plea deal.
Ali’s cousin, Mekhi Camden Speed, then 17, shot Elder. Speed pleaded guilty and was sentenced in July to over 16 years after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder while committing an armed robbery.
Speed lived in an apartment building in downtown Minneapolis where police served search warrants Feb. 2, 2022. Locke, 22, who was not named in the warrants, was sleeping on a couch in Speed’s brother’s girlfriend’s separate unit when a SWAT team burst in, looking for Speed.