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22-11-2024
LAS VEGAS: A 43-year-old man was fatally shot by police in Las Vegas after he called 911 for help while fighting off an intruder in his home.
The family of Brandon Durham, including his 15-year-old daughter who was hiding in a nearby room, have asked for the officer to be fired.
Durham’s teenage daughter said she was “disgusted” with Las Vegas police as they treated him like “the suspect” not “the victim”.
A lawyer for Alexander Bookman, the officer who shot Durham, said he committed no crimes.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Bookman, 26, had been placed on paid administrative leave while they conduct an internal review of the 12 November incident.
Durham had called 911 to report that two people were shooting outside and were trying to break into his home, police said.
Officers responding to the report found cars with broken windows outside.
They also noticed damage to the house and heard shouting from inside, police said, prompting Bookman to kick down the front door to enter.
Body camera footage released by the police shows Bookman walking through the home with his gun drawn, while screaming and banging can be heard out of view.
Turning the corner of an L-shaped hallway, the officer finds a shirtless Durham wrestling over a knife with a woman wearing a ski mask, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux.
Boo Durham and sent him and Boudreaux to the ground.
Bookman then fires five more shots at Durham and says “put your hands up”, body-worn camera footage released by police showed.
Durham was pronounced dead at the scene. Boudreaux was arrested and charged with four counts, including home invasion with a deadly weapon.
“I am disgusted in how the Metropolitan Police told my father, after killing him, to stay down,” Durham’s daughter told local news. “I’m disgusted that the Metropolitan Police will allow me to live fatherless for the rest of my life.”
The family’s lawyer has asked for an immediate arrest warrant for Bookman.
“Unlike a civil case, in which an individual’s negligence is at issue, criminal cases require proof of a person’s criminal intent,” David Roger, general counsel for the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said in a statement to media. “While Durham’s death is tragic, Officer Bookman was doing his job and did not intend to commit a crime.”
Citing a police report, local news outlets said Durham and Boudreaux were previously in a romantic relationship.
Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said police did not find a gun on the scene, despite multiple reports of shots fired.
The incident brought police shootings back into the spotlight, occurring just days before the justice department opened an investigation into the death of Sonya Massey, who was fatally shot in July by an officer inside her home in Illinois.
Illinois police have released bodycam footage showing the chaotic moments that led to the fatal shooting of a woman who had called 911 to report a suspected intruder at her home.
The killing of Sonya Massey, 36, over Independence Day weekend has led to criminal charges against the officer who opened fire, and drawn condemnation from the White House.
Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson has been sacked from the police force and charged with murder and official misconduct. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
