A Las Vegas family is calling for the arrest of a police officer who fatally shot a Black man inside his house after the man had called 911 seeking help during a home invasion.
The shooting earlier this month has attracted widespread attention since body camera footage of the shooting was released late last week.
The man, Brandon Durham, 43, of Las Vegas, called the police around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 12, and said on the call that he believed at least two people were trying to break into his house, Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said at a news conference last week. Mr. Durham told the police during the call that he was going to lock himself in a bathroom with his 15-year-old daughter.
When officers entered Mr. Durham’s house, they found him and a woman, Alejandra Boudreaux, 31, struggling over a knife, the authorities said. Body camera footage shows that an officer ordered them to put the knife down, and then almost immediately fired his gun, fatally shooting Mr. Durham.
The officer, Alexander Bookman, 26, fired six rounds in about three seconds.
Mr. Durham was pronounced dead at the scene, and Ms. Boudreaux was taken into custody, the authorities said.
Ms. Boudreaux was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, home invasion and other offenses. She was being held in a Clark County jail on Thursday, and is scheduled to appear before a judge on Monday.
It was unclear whether Ms. Boudreaux had a lawyer.
At a news conference on Monday, Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Mr. Durham’s family, said the family wanted to see the criminal case against Ms. Boudreaux continue, but also wanted Officer Bookman to be arrested.
“When officers enter someone’s home, they have a legal obligation, a constitutional obligation, to respect the rights of the resident,” Mr. Merritt said this week. “In this case, we had an absolute tragedy occur.”
Mr. Merritt called on Steve Wolfson, the Clark County district attorney, to issue a probable-cause arrest warrant for Officer Bookman.
Mr. Wolfson said in a statement this week that he had met with Mr. Durham’s family, and he asked for the public’s patience as the investigation was “in its infancy.” He said it could take weeks or months for the Las Vegas Police to complete the investigation.
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to express an opinion regarding whether criminal charges are going to be filed,” Mr. Wolfson said.
He said a decision about whether to charge Officer Bookman, as well as whether to file additional felony charges against Ms. Boudreaux, would be made once the investigation is finished.
Mr. Bookman, who has been with the department since 2021, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is reviewed. Mr. Bookman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The Police Department has not identified other officers who had also arrived at Mr. Durham’s house on Nov. 12. It was unclear how many other officers were at the house.
At the news conference on Monday, Mr. Merritt, flanked by members of the Durham family who wore shirts reading “Justice for Brandon,” said that Officer Bookman’s actions were not justified.
“When Officer Bookman entered the property of Brandon Durham, he knew that Brandon and his daughter were held up in their home, and there was at least one invader,” Mr. Merritt said. “Mr. Durham was not directing deadly force at anyone, so there was no justification to use deadly force against Mr. Durham, because he was in his underwear protecting himself at best.”
Some of the circumstances leading up to shooting on Nov. 12 were unclear. Assistant Sheriff Koren said that Mr. Durham and Ms. Boudreaux knew each other, and were believed to have had “some kind of domestic relationship.”
According to court documents obtained by KLAS, a Las Vegas television station, Ms. Boudreaux told the police that she had been suicidal recently and wanted to be shot by the police.
“I wanted the cops to shoot me dead,” she is quoted in the documents as saying.
The police had received several reports of shooting on Nov. 12 in the area of Mr. Durham’s house. When officers arrived at his address, they saw that at least two vehicles outside the house had been damaged, as had windows in the house, Assistant Sheriff Koren said, adding that screaming and banging could be heard coming from inside the home.
Body camera footage from that night shows Officer Bookman kicking in the front door of the house. Within a few moments, Officer Bookman finds Mr. Durham and Ms. Boudreaux struggling over the knife.
“Hey, hey, drop the knife,” Officer Bookman is heard saying in the video.
Within a few seconds after that, Officer Bookman fires his gun, and Mr. Durham and Ms. Boudreaux fall to the floor.
Officer Bookman is then heard in the video telling Mr. Durham and Ms. Boudreaux to put their hands up. Ms. Boudreaux does so; Mr. Durham lay on the floor beside her.
It was unclear what had prompted the initial reports of shooting in the area. Assistant Sheriff Koren said no gun had been recovered from Mr. Durham’s home.
“I can’t speculate on exactly what the officer knew at the time, or what the perception of the threat was at the time,” he said. “With these types of incidents, the events happen very quickly.”
The episode was the 13th shooting this year involving a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer, and the eighth in which the shooting was fatal, according to the authorities.
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