Left: Brandon Durham (GoFundMe). Right: Bodycam footage (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department).
The family of a Nevada man who was allegedly shot and killed by a Las Vegas police officer after he called 911 is now suing the department, saying their loved one posed no threat to anyone.
Brandon Durham, 43, was trying to get help when a former friend broke into his home after midnight on Nov. 12, 2024. He called 911 as the situation inside his home became more dangerous, and as dispatchers reassured him that help was on the way, Durham was heard saying, “I don’t think I’ll be alive by then.”
When help arrived, Officer Alexander Bookman, 26, allegedly opened fire — on Durham. Durham was pronounced dead at the scene.
Durham’s teenage daughter Isabelle was in the house at the time of the alleged incidents. The woman who allegedly broke into the house, 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, was indicted by a grand jury in December 2024 on several felony charges, including home invasion with a deadly weapon. She is being held in Clark County Jail on $1 million bond.
One the attorneys representing Durham’s family, Lee Merritt, spoke at a press conference on April 7, the day he filed the family’s lawsuit against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in federal court. He told the press that the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office was “moving forward with presenting charges” against Bookman at a criminal level. According to reporting by local NBC affiliate KSNV, Bookman has been on paid administrative leave since the alleged incident.
Merritt told reporters that while Durham’s family, including his partner Rachel Gore, would be asking for damages totaling more than $1 million, there was “no number that was going to make this family whole.” He also said that the “prohibitive” amount asked for in the lawsuit was intended to spur change, saying they “don’t want a money grab,” but they “want to make sure that nothing like this happens to another family.”
The lawsuit accuses Bookman of failing to de-escalate the situation and claims he never gave Boudreaux the chance to comply with his order to drop the knife. The suit said, “less than two seconds later, instead of shooting the assailant,” Bookman allegedly “proceeded to shoot Brandon Durham in the head.” While Durham was on the ground, Bookman then allegedly shot him “another five times, killing him.”
The lawsuit also pointed out that Bookman “never shot at the intruder” who was holding the knife, and that Durham was unarmed.
In addition to the alleged shooting, the lawsuit also said that Bookman knew full well that Durham was the homeowner since he had been at the same home “less than 24 hours before.” Durham had allowed Bookman into the residence using his own biometrics. Even more than that, Bookman was at the home to get Boudreaux to leave, indicating that he knew the home, the homeowner, and the alleged intruder the homeowner was calling 911 about.
The lawsuit also stated that Bookman “knew that when he was called to the disturbance caused by [Boudreaux], he was going to Brandon Durham’s house.” Bookman “acknowledged the same to his dispatcher” before his arrival.
Bookman is named as a co-defendant alongside the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Both parties have yet to respond.
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