(WGHP) — We are halfway through the year, and the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports there have been at least 40 domestic violence homicides across our state so far.
That’s only seven fewer than the total number the organization reported for all of 2022. At least nine of those have happened in the Piedmont Triad.
Within the past four days, there have been two in our area. The first was June 29 in Kernersville and Greensboro where a son was accused of killing his father and trying to kill his mother.
Most recently, over the weekend Winston-Salem Police arrested a 21-year-old in connection with his mother’s murder.
Advocates said at the rate we’re going this year, the state is on pace to set a record we do not want.
“We are concerned about what this will look like at the end of the year and how many communities across our state domestic violence is going to impact this year,” said Kathleen Lockwood, policy director for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Across the Piedmont Triad, there has been an uptick in domestic violence-related homicides.
The trend started off early this year on Jan. 7 in High Point when police say Robert Crayton, Jr. shot and killed his wife, three of his kids and himself at their home on Mossy Meadow Drive.
“One trend that we see consistently is the vast majority of these homicides involve the use of a firearm, which tracks what we know about how much more dangerous a domestic violence situation is when there are firearms in the home,” Lockwood said.
About three months later, a mother and her three kids died following a Winston-Salem murder-suicide on Brookhill Drive.
On June 29, Kernersville police said Thomas Gillie, 22, shot his father and two others and injured his mother, who at last check was in the hospital recovering.
Three days later, Winston-Salem police said Joshua Ross, 21, shot and killed his mother after the two got into an altercation over a gun in their home on Burke Village Lane.
These incidents aren’t yet included in the state’s Coalition Against Domestic Violence numbers, which are expected to rise.
“This is very concerning, especially because we’re early in the year … Typically as the temperature gets warmer, we see violence go up across our state,” Lockwood said. “It is concerning that we’ve had somewhat of a mild year so far, and our numbers are already so high.”
Advocates said when people are calling for help, they’re waiting until the violence is much more serious than in the past. They think part of the problem is people don’t know where to turn for help.
The North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence has a page on its website listing all 100 counties and the resources available in each of them.
