Teen sentenced to four years for role in murder that led to Amir Locke’s killing during police raid

A teenager has received a four-year prison term for being an accomplice in a shooting death in St. Paul that set in motion a predawn raid in a downtown Minneapolis apartment that ended with Amir Locke’s killing by police.

Feysal J. Ali, of Minneapolis, was sentenced Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court after he pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder in connection with the death of Otis R. Elder, 38, on Jan. 10, 2022, as Elder sat in his vehicle.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Ali is expected to serve roughly two years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Elder was shot in the back during a suspected drug transaction outside a music recording studio in the 500 block of N. Prior Avenue.

The shooter, Mekhi C. Speed, now 19, was sentenced in July 2022 to a term of more than 16 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Speed is expected to serve roughly 10.5 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Speed was 17 when Elder was killed, and Ali was 16. Both were prosecuted in adult court.

At the time of the shooting, Speed was living in a unit of the Bolero Flats Apartment Homes at 1117 S. Marquette Av. and also had access to a different unit where police barged in on Feb. 2, 2022, and shot the 22-year-old Locke, who was sleeping on the couch and emerged from under a blanket with a gun in his hand. Speed and Locke were cousins.

Also, his DNA was recovered from a jacket that investigators say was being worn by someone sitting next to Elder when he was shot, the charges said.

On the night of Jan. 10, officers answered a 911 call and found Elder in the street wounded in the back.

As their investigation progressed, St. Paul police filed applications for search warrant affidavits for three Bolero Flats apartments.

Locke, who was not a target of the investigation, was sleeping in the apartment of relatives when a Minneapolis police SWAT team burst in shortly before 7 a.m. on Feb. 2.

Video from an officer’s body camera showed police rushing inside and yelling “search warrant!” as Locke lay under a blanket on the couch. An officer kicked the couch, and Locke stirred, holding a firearm in his right hand. Officer Mark Hanneman shot Locke, within seconds of police entering.