‘Brandonprint’: family and friends remember Brandon Durham, fatally shot by police

When Minister Stretch Sanders asked the crowd to stand up if Brandon Durham had ever shown them love, almost every person in Davis Funeral Home lifted off their seat.

“His presence was magnetic and his love for life was contagious. He taught us to love a little louder and love a little deeper and hold tight to the people who matter most,” Durham’s longtime friend and colleague Steve Cowan said.

On Sunday morning, friends and family gathered for a funeral service for Durham, 43, who was shot six times by Metropolitan Police Department officer Alexander Bookman, 26. Durham had called the police to report a break-in, telling the dispatchers that the intruder was wearing red.

When police arrived, body camera footage showed, Durham was in his underwear, and Alejandra Boudreaux, 31, in a red hoodie. The two were struggling over a knife. Bookman gave two commands to drop the knife, and less than two seconds later, fired shots at Durham, according to the footage. Boudreaux was arrested on Nov. 12 and faces a series of charges of home invasion, assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse.

Body camera footage also shows that Bookman had responded to Durham’s house the day prior for a call of an intruder, and had told Boudreaux to leave the home.

The shooting caused outrage from the family and friends, who have called for the officer’s arrest.

At Sunday morning’s service, speakers conveyed their anger once more. But they also focused on celebrating his life, and channeling their energy towards getting him justice. They remembered his enthusiastic spirit, passion for cooking and sports and devotion to his family.

“I don’t know how you are not angry at something like this,” Rachael Gore, Durham’s partner, said. “But instead of leading with anger, I choose to lead with love today.”

Family man

Gore recalled her love story with Bookman, and the eventual blending of their two families — her and her son, and Durham and his daughter. The blended family, she said, was filled with love and laughter, and had created a “lifetime of memories together” through bonding vacations around the world.

Gore and several other speakers also noted the special relationship between Durham and his 15-year-old daughter, Bella Durham, who some called a female version of him.

“I was always a daddy’s girl,” Durham said, adding that “dada” was her first word. Through her tears, Durham also brought the room to laughter at points, acting out her father holding up his Samsung to take footage of her in volleyball games. Her father, she said, was proud of everything she did.

It was Brandon Durham that inspired her love of cooking, and she remembered the way his face would light up at everything she cooked.

“It’s so hard cooking now,” she said.

Warm heart

Travon Frederick, an old friend of Durham’s, recalled that as a young man, he had loved spending time with Durham so much that he had quit his job to work as a security guard at Walmart with him just to hang out more.

“He was the kind of friend that I wanted to keep forever,” Frederick said. “They took the wrong person from us.”

Aidan Casio, who went to culinary school with Durham, said that Durham had served as a constant source of light in his life.

“Even though I wish to God I never went to culinary school and spent the $80,000,” he said “I would pay that and any amount of money — I would take out another loan — to see him again or cook him another meal again.”

Fighting for justice

Several speakers thanked civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Durham’s family, and encouraged him to keep fighting for justice.

“We ran out of time,” Casio said. “Somebody cut our time too short.”

Merritt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Sunday that after seeing the body camera footage from the prior incident, he wanted to speak to District Attorney Steve Wolfson again.

“The only thing I want to know about when an officer uses force is what they knew before they pulled the trigger,” Merritt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Initially I thought he knew very little. But he knew a lot more … so much.”

Previously, Wolfson said in a statement that his office was investigating Metro, but that it would be “inappropriate for me to express an opinion regarding whether criminal charges are going to be filed.”

‘A Brandonprint’

“Energy doesn’t die, it transfers. There’s a Brandon in each and every one of us,” Sanders told the crowd.

He encouraged the crowd to use a “Brandonprint,” his play on a blueprint, to navigate what life should look like and how to learn from he way Durham lived. Sanders said that he had put organizing and activism behind him due to the strain on him, but the facts of Durham’s case made him feel like he needed to fight for him.

Prior to the funeral, there had been several other events to honor Durham.

Sanders had organized a march on Fremont Street on Nov. 23 to honor Durham. On Nov. 30, about 50 people lit candles in memory of Brandon Durham at a vigil at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue in North Las Vegas.

“Don’t let his life be in vain,” Sanders said. “He needs us.”

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.