Otis Elder, a 38-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on January 7, 2022, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His death was the result of a drug deal that turned into a deadly robbery. At the time of his death, Elder was a loving brother and a father to four children. He was shot while in his SUV in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, on what was his daughter's fourth birthday. He had just left a friend's recording studio and was on his way to her birthday dinner.
The last words he spoke to his daughter were that he loved her, that she was pretty, and that he couldn't wait to see her for her birthday.
The investigation into Elder's murder led police to a Minneapolis apartment complex, Bolero Flats, where the primary suspect, 17-year-old Mekhi Speed, resided. On February 2, 2022, a Minneapolis SWAT team executed a no-knock warrant at an apartment associated with Speed. Tragically, this raid resulted in the shooting death of Speed's 22-year-old cousin, Amir Locke, who was not a suspect in Elder's murder and was legally armed. Locke's death brought national attention to the use of no-knock warrants. Elder's fiancée expressed her fear that he would be forgotten in the outcry over Locke's death.
Mekhi Speed was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Elder's death. He later pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder while committing an armed robbery and was sentenced to over 16 years in prison. Another teenager, 18-year-old Feysal Jama Ali, was also implicated in the crime. Ali pleaded guilty to being an accomplice after the fact and was sentenced to four years in prison. Investigators used DNA evidence from the getaway car and cellphone tracking to link Ali to the murder scene. The getaway vehicle, a silver Mercedes-Benz, had been reported stolen and was used in other crimes.
