Police in Las Vegas fatally shot an innocent man in the head after responding to reports of break-in, unaware that he was the person who had called 911.
Brandon Durham, 43, was fighting off a female intruder who was brandishing a knife at him when an officer shot him multiple times.
The incident occurred on Tuesday November 12, after Durham called emergency services at 12.40am to report that people were firing guns and attempting to break into his property.
According to Las Vegas Metro Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren, Durham was home with his 15-year-old daughter, Bella, at the time.
Officers responded to the scene to find cars with broken windows outside.
Bodycam footage shared by LVMPD shows officers then kicking down the door to Durham’s home as screams are heard coming from inside.
In the footage, released on Thursday, Officer Alexander Bookman, 26, enters the property and rounds the corner of the hallway to find Durham wrestling for control of a knife with 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux.
Police said they believe Boudreaux and Durham had a prior relationship and that the break-in was not random.
Bookman told the pair to drop the knife before shooting Durham once.
In the footage, both Durham and Boudreaux are seen falling to the floor before Bookman fires five more shots into Durham’s body.
Koren said that life-saving measures were attempted on Durham, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Asked why the officer fired the additional rounds, Koren said officers were often asked to make quick decisions based on their perceptions of threats and that it “wasn’t appropriate” to speculate on specifics.
“They don’t have the ability to stop time, and stop the video, and get a still and then spend minutes, let alone hours or days or months, analyzing that information to make their decision,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“They have a matter of seconds, if not split seconds, to make very challenging decisions.”
Officer Bookman has been put on paid administrative leave in line with department policy, Koren said.
A GoFundMe page set up for Durham, who was described as “a loving and dedicated family man,” has raised over $3,500. He leaves behind his wife, daughter and stepson.
Durham’s death marks the 13th shooting – the eighth fatal – by Metro Police in 2024.
The fatal shooting follows a similar incident in July where a white officer fatally shot an unarmed Black woman who had called 911 to report what she thought was a prowler outside her home in Springfield, Illinois.
Police claimed initially that Sonya Massey’s death was self-inflicted, according to the victim’s family and dispatch audio from the incident.
But, in reality, Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson had shot and killed Massey, who reportedly suffered from mental health issues, after responding to her home.
Grayson has since been fired and was indicted July 17 on charges of official misconduct, aggravated battery with a firearm, and first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty.
Grayson, who has been arrested twice for DUI, worked for six different police agencies in the past four years, raising questions about his fitness for the job.
