The family of Brandon Durham, a Las Vegas man shot and killed in his home by Las Vegas police after contacting 911 report to a break-in, are calling for the officer’s arrest.
Durham, a 43-year-old realtor and father, called police after midnight on 12 November and said people had broken into his home and were shooting.
When officers with the Las Vegas metropolitan police department entered the residence, they came upon Durham calling for help as he struggled to wrestle a knife from the hands of a woman wearing a hoodie.
Alexander Bookman, a 26-year officer who joined the Las Vegas police in 2021, yelled “drop the knife” and immediately fired at Durham, as shown in body-camera footage from the department.
The civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Durham’s family, said in a press conference earlier this week that he believed an arrest warrant should be issued immediately.
“Brandon was found in his hallway to his bedroom, in his underwear, asking for help while an assailant attempted to stab him using a large knife,” Merritt said.
Durham was not directing deadly force at anyone and there was no justification for police to use deadly force against him, he said.
Police have arrested the woman Durham was attempting to take the knife from. Charges against Alejandra Boudreaux, 31, include home invasion with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, and child abuse or endangerment, Dori Koren, the assistant sheriff, said at a press briefing last week.
Koren said Durham and Boudreaux knew each other and had “some kind of domestic” relationship.
Durham’s 15-year-old daughter was home at the time of the break-in.
Video from Bookman’s body-worn camera showed a chaotic scene. The officer broke down the door and, following Durham’s cries for help, came across the man trying to take a knife from Boudreaux. He shouted “drop the knife” but fired his weapon within seconds. Bookman continued firing as Durham fell to the ground.
According to the footage, it appears Bookman shot Durham within a minute of the time he arrived. Durham was pronounced dead at the scene.
“That officer had a chance to make a decision – he offered a verbal command but without giving anyone an opportunity to comply,” Merritt said. “We know from the video the officer was not in harm’s way.”
Boudreaux told police that her relationship with Durham was casual and sexual, and that they had met recently on a dating app. According to her arrest report, she said she was suicidal at the time she broke into Durham’s house and wanted to be killed by police: “I wanted the cops to shoot me dead. And I wanted [Durham] to live the wreckage that I caused in his house.”
A day before the shooting, Durham had contacted police to report that Boudreaux had broken into his house, according to records obtained by 8 News Now. Bookman was among the officers who responded to that call. Boudreaux eventually left before returning the following evening.
In the media briefing last week, Koren said the investigation was in the early stages and that there was still “a lot of work to do”.
“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and something we take very seriously,” he said.
Merritt said the district attorney told Durham’s family that an investigation into the killing would take anywhere from 30 to 90 days, and emphasized that his office would not hesitate to prosecute a police officer.
Durham’s sister, Diane Wright, expressed shock and horror over the killing and said watching footage of the incident was traumatic.
“Officer Alexander Bookman took the life of an innocent man that was calling for assistance,” she told News 3 Las Vegas, pointing out Durham’s daughter was just feet away. “The response to help me was to be murdered.”
Wright described her brother as a family man, dedicated to his loved ones, and a hard worker who was driven.
“There’s nothing he wouldn’t have done for the people he loved,” she said.
