Man shot dead by Las Vegas officer had called 911 to report break-in, police say
The man shot and killed by a Las Vegas police officer earlier this week was shot after calling 911 to report that his home was being broken into, police said.
Around 12:40 a.m. on Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Department said they had received numerous reports of a shooting in the 6900 block of Wine River Drive, just west of Sunset Park and south of Harry Reid International Airport. During a news conference Thursday, Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren revealed that the man who was killed, 43-year-old Brandon Durham, was among the first to call; he told officers that two people had broken into his home where he lived with his 15-year-old daughter.
Koren said that when officers arrived, they noticed that the windows of the cars parked in the driveway had been smashed, and so had those of the house. They also heard screaming coming from the inside. Officer Alexander Bookman, 26, kicked the front door down, making entry, police said.
Inside the residence, police said, Bookman found Durham and a woman, now identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife. Bookman gave them commands to drop the knife before shooting six times, Metro said.
Durham was struck. Boudreaux was not injured by the gunfire.
Durham was pronounced dead at the scene. His cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.
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Two knives were recovered, but police did not find any guns, Koren said. He added that, at this time, investigators believe that Durham and Boudreaux had a domestic relationship.
Boudreaux is facing a series of charges including one count of home invasion with a deadly weapon, one count of child abuse, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon.
In an interview with the Review-Journal, Steve Cowan said he was friends with Durham. He added that Durham also had his daughter call Metro during the break-in.
“He had his daughter call the police for help and the help shot (him),” he said.
“I wish my friend was still here,” Cowan said.
At the end of the conference, Koren said that these situations “happen very quickly” and that officers are pursuing a thorough investigation of the incident.
“We have to determine what a reasonable officer in that same situation would have done with the information that’s presented to them without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight,” Koren said. “We have that luxury, but our officer … they don’t have the ability to stop time, get a still, and then spend minutes — let alone hours or days or months — analyzing that information to make their decision. They have a matter of seconds, if not split seconds.”
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com. Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.