John Jefferson
Left: Brandon Durham (GoFundMe). Right: Bodycam footage (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department).
The 911 call placed by Brandon Durham before Las Vegas police arrived at his home revealed his intense fear for his life.
Durham told the 911 operator during his panicked call that people were outside his home “shooting guns at my house.” The call was placed after midnight on Nov. 12 and lasted about 10 minutes while Durham pleaded for help as he hid inside his home with his 15-year-old daughter. By the end of the incident, Durham was shot and killed by a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer. He was 43 years old.
More details have emerged about the night Durham lost his life, including the full 911 call and information about the woman who allegedly invaded his home, 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux.
During the 911 call, obtained by Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS, Durham told the 911 operator that he didn’t know the people he believed were trying to break into his house. He also detailed an increasingly dangerous scene, saying at one point “they’re gonna shoot me” and “they’re trying to get in the house.” After that, a crash can be heard over the phone and Durham said, “They’re inside, they’re coming.” He then told the 911 operator that he was going to hide in the bathroom. She reassured Durham that officers were on the way and to stay on the line.
Durham then had a chilling response: “I don’t think I’ll be alive by then.”
At the same time, Durham’s neighbors were reportedly calling 911 to report the commotion at Durham’s home. One of them told a dispatcher that someone was “attacking his home with bricks” and that the windows had been broken. The neighbor corroborated Durham’s description of the suspected intruder that he or she was wearing a hoodie.
More from Law & Crime: ‘Fatherless for the rest of my life’: Man who called 911 for help during home invasion shot dead by responding police
When the operator asked Durham if the intruders had entered the home, he confirmed they had as more crashing could be heard in the background. He said, “They’re in the house… my daughter.” The operator asked if she was in her room, and Durham said, “I hope so.”
A few moments later, voices can be heard along with more crashing and thumping noises. Durham reportedly told the operator, “They’re trying to blow up the house, with the gas,” clarifying that he meant with his gas stove. Seconds after that exchange, someone can be heard shouting and a loud confrontation takes place, but it’s unclear what exactly is going on.
After a few seconds, an officer — going by what was recorded on police body cameras — shouted, “Drop the knife!” Seconds later, 26-year-old Officer Alexander Bookman fired six shots that killed Durham in the doorway of his home. The father and realtor was pronounced dead at the scene.
Body camera footage that was previously released showed Durham struggling with one of the intruders. She was later identified as Boudreaux.
According to KLAS, Boudreaux told police that she’d intended for the police to shoot her during the confrontation. LVMPD records showed that officers had visited Durham’s home on Nov. 10, just over 24 hours before the home invasion. According to the records, Durham was not home at the time of that visit — around 11:30 p.m. that night — but told police that Boudreaux, whom he identified as his “ex-friend,” would not leave his house.
Officer Bookman was one of the officers at the scene on Nov. 10. He reported in his records that Boudreaux “packed up” and left the premises at 12:40 a.m. after she “agreed to leave.”
Boudreaux was taken into custody and charged with four felonies including assault with a deadly weapon. Officer Bookman was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the fatal shooting.
Lee Merritt, who is the lawyer representing Durham’s family, called on Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson to issue a probable cause arrest warrant for Officer Bookman. Wolfson said in a statement that it was too early to consider charges against the officer since the investigation had just begun.
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