The family of Brandon Durham, a Las Vegas man who was shot in his home by Las Vegas police after contacting 911, is reporting a burglary, and calling for the officer’s arrest.
Durham, a 43-year-old real estate agent and father, called police after midnight on November 12 and said people had broken into his house and were shooting.
When Las Vegas Police Department officers entered the residence, they encountered Durham calling for help as he struggled to wrestle a knife from the hands of a hooded woman.
Alexander Bookman, a 26-year-old officer who joined the Las Vegas Police Department in 2021, shouted “drop the knife” and immediately shot at Durham, as shown in the department’s body camera footage.
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Durham’s family, said at a news conference earlier this week that he believes an arrest warrant should be issued immediately.
“Brandon was found in the hallway to his bedroom, in his underwear, asking for help as an assailant tried to stab him with a large knife,” Merritt said.
Durham did not direct deadly force at anyone and there was no justification for police to use deadly force against him, he said.
Police have arrested the woman from whom Durham tried to take the knife. Charges against 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux include home invasion with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse or child endangerment, Dori Koren, the sheriff’s deputy, said at a news conference last week.
Koren said Durham and Boudreaux knew each other and had “kind of a domestic” relationship.
Durham’s 15-year-old daughter was home at the time of the burglary.
Video from Bookman’s body-worn camera showed a chaotic scene. The officer broke down the door and, after Durham’s cries for help, encountered the man trying to take a knife from Boudreaux. He shouted ‘drop the knife’ but fired his weapon within seconds. Bookman continued shooting as Durham fell to the ground.
According to the footage, it appears Bookman shot Durham within a minute of arriving. Durham was pronounced dead at the scene.
“That officer had an opportunity to make a decision — he offered a verbal command, but without giving anyone a chance to comply,” Merritt said. “We know from the video that the officer was not in danger.”
Boudreaux told police that her relationship with Durham was casual and sexual, and that they had recently met on a dating app. According to her arrest report, she said she was suicidal at the time she broke into Durham’s home and wanted to be killed by police: “I wanted the police to shoot me.” And I wanted to [Durham] to live the wreck I caused in his house.
A day before the shooting, Durham had contacted police to report that Boudreaux had broken into his home, according to records obtained by 8 News Now. Bookman was among the officers who responded to that call. Boudreaux eventually left before returning the next evening.
During last week’s media briefing, Koren said the investigation was in its early stages and 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 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 at the killing and said watching footage of the incident was traumatic.
“Officer Alexander Bookman took the life of an innocent man who was calling for help,” she told News 3 Las Vegas, noting that Durham’s daughter was just feet away. “The answer to help me was to be killed.”
Wright described her brother as a family man, devoted 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.
