Las Vegas officer fatally shoots homeowner armed with two knives after reports of a break-in
By: -----
A Metro Police officer shot an innocent man in the head early Tuesday while responding to reports of a break-in, and then stood over the man’s motionless body and shot five more rounds, officials said Thursday.
Brandon Durham, a 43-year-old Black man, was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting at his residence in the 6900 block of Wine River Drive.
Durham called emergency services at 12:40 a.m. Tuesday to report that people were firing guns and attempting to break into his property. He was home with his 15-year-old daughter.
Officers responded and found cars with broken windows. They kicked in the door to the residence after hearing screams coming from inside the home, officials said.
Bodycam footage released Thursday by Metro show Officer Alexander Bookman, 26, entering the property to find Durham wrestling for control of a knife with 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux.
Bookman told the two to drop the knife before shooting Durham once.
After Durham fell to the ground, Bookman fired five more rounds at the man, who was not moving, bodycam footage shows. Durham was pronounced dead at the scene.
When asked why the officer fired the additional rounds, Metro Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said the investigation is still in the early stages and that it “wasn’t appropriate to speculate” on the details of the case.
Koren asserted officers are often asked to make quick decisions based on their perceptions of threats.
“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,” Koren said Thursday during a press conference. “They have a matter of seconds, if not split seconds, to make very challenging decisions.”
Metro officials said they could not confirm whether Bookman knew Durham was the one who had placed the call before entering the home, and that no guns were found in the home. Boudreaux was arrested and booked on four charges, including home invasion with a deadly weapon and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.
Officials said they believe Boudreaux and Durham had a prior relationship and that the break-in was not random.