John Jefferson
Left: Brandon Durham (GoFundMe). Right: Body cam footage (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department).
Brandon Durham feared for his life when a woman he knew entered his home with a knife. He called 911 for help, and by the end of the night, he was dead — allegedly at the hands of the police.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department held a press conference and released a statement outlining the reported events of Nov. 12, when Durham, a 43-year-old father and realtor in Las Vegas, Nevada, called to report an intruder in his home. During the press conference led by Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren, bodycam footage from the call was shown and made public.
According to the LVMPD, Durham called 911 to report the sound of shooting around his home. People reported that he believed “two people were shooting into and attempting to break into his home.” While on the call, he reportedly said that he was going to barricade himself in the bathroom. Three police officers arrived at the scene at 12:40 a.m. and observed damage to the home and vehicles in the driveway as well as screaming coming from inside. One of them, Officer Alexander Bookman, announced the arrival of police and kicked in the front door.
As the officers made their way through Durham’s home, Durham and another person in a red hoodie were seen, apparently in a struggle in the bedroom doorway. Both Durham and the other person had their hands on a large knife. Bookman ordered whoever was holding the knife to drop it, but no one moved. Bookman then fired his weapon once — allegedly at Durham.
Durham collapsed, taking the other person with him. While he was on the floor, Bookman fired at Durham five more times. Paramedics pronounced Durham dead at the scene.
The other person was Alejandra Boudreaux, a 31-year-old woman that investigators claimed was known to Durham, but their relationship was not made clear. Boudreaux was arrested at the scene and charged with one count of performance of act in willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death, one count of home invasion with a deadly weapon, one count of assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence, and one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. The last charge referred to Durham’s 15-year-old daughter, Isabella, who was in the house at the time of the incident.
LVMPD said that the incident was being reviewed internally over its use of force.
Durham’s family told KSNV, a local NBC affiliate, that they were not satisfied with the LVMPD’s explanation of events. Isabella Durham said that she was “disgusted with the Metropolitan Police,” adding that “[t]he fact that they wrongfully shot my dad and then tried to spin the narrative to cover them, saying that there were gunshots there, that he had a knife, none of that is true.”
She further condemned the police and their alleged conduct, saying, “The violence that occurred here was under someone who was extremely, extremely angry and extremely violent. And I am disgusted in how the Metropolitan Police told my father, after killing him, to stay down. Knowing, treating him like he was the suspect in the situation, he was the victim, and I’m disgusted that the Metropolitan Police will allow me to live fatherless for the rest of my life.”
Rachael Gore, Durham’s partner, started a GoFundMe to raise money for his funeral costs. She implied to KSNV that the shooting was due to Durham’s race, saying, “What are you looking at? Not the colors of the clothes, you’re looking at the color of the skin and that’s why he’s dead. That’s why we don’t have him here.”
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