Las Vegas police are investigating after an officer fatally shot a 43-year-old father who had called 911 for help during a home break-in.
Brandon Durham called the emergency line Tuesday morning to report that two people were shooting outside of his home and were trying to break in, according to police. His was one of multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting in the city’s Sunset Park neighborhood, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said last week.
Durham reported that he was inside the house with his 15-year-old daughter and he was going to lock himself in a bathroom, Koren told reporters Thursday.
“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Koren said.
Koren said three officers responded to the home at 12:40 a.m. and “immediately” saw damage to multiple vehicles and the windows of the home.
Body camera footage was played during a press conference Thursday. It showed officers kicking down the home’s door upon arrival as screaming is heard inside the home.
An officer rushes in with his firearm drawn and walks through a narrow hallway, where screaming and banging are heard.
Two people can be seen struggling in a doorway, one in a red sweatshirt with a hood over their head, and the other a man apparently in his underwear with his arms around the person in the sweatshirt.
The man without clothing was later identified as Durham and the person in the sweatshirt as Alejandra Boudreaux, a suspect in the case.
“Hey, drop the knife,” the officer said. “Drop the knife.”
Approximately two seconds after issuing the command, the officer fired the gun and Durham appeared to be hit, according to the video. Both Durham and Boudreaux fell to the ground, and the officer advanced forward and fired his gun five more times, according to the video.
The knife was circled in video stills shown by Koren that capture Durham and Boudreaux in the doorway and again on the ground.
The investigation into the shooting is still in the early stages, Koren noted, but there were roughly three seconds from the first to last shot.
Officers attempted to provide Durham with medical treatment, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Boudreaux was arrested during the incident, Koren said. She is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.
Court records show Boudreaux is in police custody and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. There is no attorney listed as her representation.
She appears to have had some relationship with Durham, Koren said, but police provided no clarity as to what that relationship might be. Police believe the incident was targeted and not a random act of violence.
A criminal complaint filed in her case was obtained by NBC affiliate KSNV. The complaint alleges that Boudreaux broke into the home with a weapon with the intention of provoking a police response that is sometimes referred to as “suicide by cop,” the station reported.
NBC News was unable to obtain a copy of the complaint from the court on Sunday.
The officer’s use of force is being reviewed using the standard set by the Supreme Court’s decision in Graham v. Connor, Koren told reporters. The decision stemmed from a 1984 police brutality case and established an “objective reasonableness” standard for use of force.
A review of the shooting will take into account what the officer’s “threat perception” was in the moment, Koren said.
“Our officers, unfortunately, have a very challenging job that during these types of incidents, they don’t have the ability to stop time and stop a 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.
Durham’s 15-year-old daughter Isabella told KSNV that she was angry at the police department, which has made it so that she will “live fatherless for the rest of my life.”
“The violence that occurred here was under someone who was extremely, extremely angry and extremely violent,” Isabella said. “And I am disgusted in how the Metropolitan Police told my father, after killing him, to stay down.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
