Downtown march for man killed by police officer set for Saturday

A Las Vegas civil rights activist estimated that hundreds will march the streets of downtown Saturday in honor of Brandon Durham, who was shot and killed by a Metropolitan Police Department officer on Nov. 12.

“We’re outraged as a community,” said Minister Vance “Stretch” Sanders, who is organizing Saturday’s rally and march. “We feel that it’s important that we set a tone here.”

Durham called 911 to report that someone was breaking into his home, according to both his family and police.

When Metro Officer Alexander Bookman, 26, arrived with two other patrol officers, they found Durham and Alejandra Boudreaux, who has since been charged with home invasion and disregard of a person’s safety, struggling over a knife, police said.

Bookman yelled “drop the knife” and opened fire seconds later, hitting Durham.

“I heard the gunshots. I heard them, and I’m disgusted,” Durham’s daughter, Isabella Durham, said at a news conference Thursday. She’d been in the house during the shooting.

Since Durham’s death, organizations including The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and Black Lives Matter have spoken out against the shooting on social media.

Metro said in a press conference Thursday that the department is conducting a thorough investigation of the shooting.

‘This one hits home’

Nationwide, people are watching Vegas after Durham’s death, Sanders said in an interview Wednesday by the Martin Luther King Jr. statue at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue in North Las Vegas. Sanders called for Bookman’s arrest. In a Monday press conference, prominent civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Durham’s family, did the same.

The activist, who said he has organized hundreds of protests around the Las Vegas Valley in the last decade, said that Durham’s family, Merritt, and the president of the local NAACP chapter will be speaking alongside members of the community Saturday.

The march will take place on Fremont Street from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, following a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Protesters will meet at Las Vegas City Hall, located at 495 South Main Street.

The choice to march on Fremont Street was conscious, Sanders said, given the location’s popularity with tourists. He said he wants tourists to understand the issues that local Las Vegans are facing and potentially merge with the protest.

Heavy traffic is expected in the area associated with the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, a factor that Sanders is is unrelated to the protest’s date.

Sanders said that he’s organized protests in honor of those killed by police before, but “this one hits home.”

“It’s in our own city,” Sanders said. “So of course, you’re not going to sit by and be quiet, we’re going to stand up. We feel that what happened to that brother was unjustifiable.”

“There’s a real fear factor there,” Sanders, who described himself as Black, outspoken and 6 feet and 10 inches tall, said. The shooting made Sanders not want to lean on or trust law enforcement, he said. “We don’t have time for mistakes like that.”