Workplace Incidents
California
Incident Report
A pregnant mother of three was killed at the San Diego-area office where she worked by an ex-boyfriend delivering her roses. Before the gunman left the building, he also shot and wounded a doctor working in the same building. – source: San Diego Union Tribune, June 13, 2007
Background
The couple had an on again, off again relationship, with one child in common. It is unknown if co-workers were aware of the violent relationship.
Commentary
“I thought I knew him,” said apartment manager Phylis Johnson “He's a very cool, calm, collected, mild-mannered, polite man, who I would never, ever expect to do anything like this. He's always been a quiet, nice person.” The above is a description of a man who just murdered his girlfriend and mother of his child. When domestic violence shows up on the workplace door step it does not announce, “I am a monster. Protect your employees against me.” It sometimes shows up bearing flowers. The good news in this scenario is that the physician, an employee, received only minor injuries.
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Incident Report
A man is wanted in a double-homicide for gunning down his former girlfriend and her boyfriend in the parking lot of the beauty salon where she worked. – source: Sacramento Bee, Nov. 18, 2007
Background
The victim had filed two police reports and two restraining-order applications over the course of a year claiming that her ex-boyfriend had raped, stabbed, and threatened to kill her. Despite her efforts, the former boyfriend was never arrested or served a restraining order.
Commentary
At its best, a restraining order is a reminder to the perpetrator that someone other than the victim is aware of his behavior and watching him. It is just a piece of paper. It does not stop violence. And for a restraining order to have any effect at all on the perpetrator, the perpetrator must be served or notified of the restraining order. Should law enforcement have difficulties locating and properly notifying the perpetrator, the restraining order is ineffective.
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Incident Report
An abusive husband involved in an ongoing separation and child custody situation shot and wounded his wife as she drove into the parking lot in Los Angeles where she worked. The man was later arrested in Mexico. Source: KTLA TV News, October, 20, 2008.
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence.
Commentary
Where domestic violence is concerned, the two most dangerous rooms in a home are the kitchen because of the availability of weapons, and the bathroom because there is usually only one way out. But now after compiling two years of domestic violence incidents across the country, I can tell you that THE third most dangerous and place for working women is the workplace parking lot. A woman is completely vulnerable to attack while leaving her car to enter work and again while leaving work in the evening. Be careful out there!
Delaware
Incident Report
A school bus driver and mother of three was found stabbed to death in her bus, and her live-in boyfriend of six years – and the father of her youngest child – was arrested for murder. – source: CBS News, May 2, 2007
Organizational Response
School officials ordered the campus to be locked down. All supervisors were notified and responded to the situation according to guidelines outlined in the District’s Emergency Management Plan.
Background
The victim had been living with the boyfriend and had recently moved out. Neighbors say the woman suffered previous incidences of domestic violence from the boyfriend, and filed harassment charges two weeks before she was murdered.
Aftermath
The school district offered grief counseling to its transportation employees, students and schools. Extra security guards patrolled the bus yard for two weeks after the incident. A change in workplace violence policies was discussed but none was implemented.
Commentary
The victim’s neighbors knew of her home situation, but it is not known if her employer or her co-workers were also aware. If she had told someone at work, she might still be alive. It is human nature to want to forget a trauma of this magnitude and move on, and to believe it will never happen again. With 17,500 children entrusted into the school districts’ care every day, the school district should look at more ways they can increase security.
Florida
Incident Report
A woman was shot and killed by estranged husband at the daycare center where she worked. Several children were found huddled uninjured in a bathroom, spattered with the victim’s blood. A three-year-old was heard telling his teacher, “We saw a monster.” – source: newspress.com, Jan. 25, 2008
Background
The couple was in the process of divorce and had a history of domestic violence and stalking. In spite of it, the victim had dismissed a domestic violence injunction. Co-workers were aware of the violent relationship. Just prior to the shooting, the daycare center had been put on a daily lockdown to prevent the husband from approaching his wife.
Aftermath
The daycare center closed for a week after the shooting, and is offering individual and group counseling. In spite of its earlier precautions, the staff is re-evaluating its safety measures.
Commentary
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to drop off their children at a daycare center, entrusting their safety to the owners and teachers, only to find out that one of the teachers was fatally shot at the center as children watched. If you think domestic violence is not your business, or you don’t know anyone involved in a violent relationship, think again. The incidents of domestic violence reported here happened in the most ordinary settings – a church, a hotel, a doctor’s office. Domestic violence affects all of us, and can happen anywhere. It is everyone’s business.
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Incident Report
A woman employee at a Jacksonville company was ambushed and shot as she arrived to work, and her live-in boyfriend (and suspect) killed himself eight hours later in an armed standoff. Source: WOKV.com July 22, 2008
Background
The victim had left the home three weeks earlier out of fear. She had recently filed a restraining order against the man because he had threatened her with a gun and had been stalking her.
Aftermath
A company spokesman said ID verification is required to enter the company parking lot. She said the shooter probably knew that, and chose to ambush his girlfriend on her way to work.
Commentary
Look back now at the number of fatalities I have discussed in the last year and a half on these incident reports occurring on the way to work or in the parking lot of a victim's employer. The above employer required ID to enter their property and the perpetrator new it. He hunted his prey to the edge of her security zone and struck just before she entered. The actions of this employer deterred the gunman. But it isn't known if the employer was aware of her violent relationship at home.
Georgia
Incident Report
In Atlanta, a woman working at the CNN Omni Hotel was shot and killed by an ex-boyfriend, who was then wounded by a CNN security guard and detained. – source: CNN, April 12, 2007
Organizational Response
An announcement over the center’s PA system warned of gunfire. The newsroom was evacuated.
Background
The couple dated for two years, and had recently broken up.
Aftermath
CNN offered grief counseling to its newsroom employees.
Commentary
The guard’s response allowed the incident to be quickly contained. The follow-up procedure of evacuating the newsroom, coupled with the announcement of gun fire over the public-address system, is exemplary of having violence in the workplace policy and following those procedures. CNN’s offer of confidential counseling will increase the recovery time for all employees, allowing for the least amount of disruption.
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Incident Report
A murder-suicide claimed the life of a young Atlanta legal secretary who was killed outside her office building by a man with whom she worked and occasionally dated. After the shooting, the assailant turned the gun on himself. – source: Atlanta Journal, April 29, 2008
Background
The Monday following the shooting the victim’s law firm brought in two full-time grief counselors, and one of the firm’s senior human resource executives flew in to help out.
Aftermath
A spokesman for the law firm where the victim worked said they did a criminal background check on the assailant, and that he had passed the background check with “flying colors." The president of the temp agency that employed the gunman declined to comment on whether her company had also checked his background.
Commentary
This case is an example of the liability issues unearthed when domestic violence is carried into the workplace. It has not been determined yet whether the victim’s family is considering litigation. However, they could claim the temp firm didn't screen the gunman properly before employing him as a temporary worker. With these kinds of employer liability issues, the cost of doing business goes up for the employer.
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Incident Report
An abusive ex-boyfriend confronted his former girlfriend in her employer’s parking lot as she was leaving for lunch. The man stabbed her, abducted her, and then dropped her at a Florida hospital. Source: WSBTV.com, Sept. 18, 2008
Background
The ex-boyfriend had a history of domestic violence, and had been arrested just nine days earlier on a misdemeanor charge after attacking the woman for demanding that leave her house.
Commentary
Domestic violence does not go away, it escalates. Just because a woman gets a man out of her house does not mean she is safe. The Unsafe Woman needs to be vigilant for the rest of her life.
Illinois
Incident Report
A woman was gunned down by her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot where she worked. The gunman later turned the gun on himself. – source: Daily Herald, March 8, 2008
Background
The couple had lived together for three years but were separated. The boyfriend had a history of domestic violence, harassment, and violations of an order of protection. Friends of the victim said the ex-boyfriend returned to their home one night and trashed the place, throwing cans of paint all over the furniture, walls and carpet. She installed security cameras outside her home. Family and co-workers were aware of the violence.
Commentary
One of the greatest myths of domestic violence is that it only happens to poor, ethnic women. In this case, the victim was one of the Midwest's most powerful real estate women, but it was no protection from a violent and abusive man. Domestic violence does not respect finances or socioeconomic levels. A good book that debunks the stereotypes of domestic violence is, Not To People Like Us: Hidden Abuse in Upscale Marriages (Weitzman).
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Incident Report
In the suburb of Dolton, a man and a woman were killed following a standoff. The gunman apparently killed his girlfriend at her workplace before officers shot and killed him leaving the building. Source CBS news June 25, 2008.
Background
Little is known about the relationship between the woman and the gunman.
Commentary
Another workplace “homicide". It truly is a tragedy. But here is the second tragedy: We were unable to find any other information concerning this shooting or it’s victims. Have we come to a time that the death of two human beings is only worth mentioning for one brief article? What about the safety of the woman's co-workers, and the customers of that business?
Louisiana
Incident Report
Incident – A woman working at a physical therapy clinic was shot in the leg and dragged into an elevator by the man with whom she lives. Source: The Daily Times-Picayune, Sept. 23, 2008.
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence, and at the time of the attack the boyfriend had been scheduled to appear in court to enter a plea on earlier charges of abuse.
Commentary
It is not known if the victim’s employer was aware of her vulnerability. In my opinion, the unsafe woman must divulge to her employer any concerns she ha if she is involved in a violent intimate partner relationship. Many precautions can be taken by the employer to keep the victim, as well as the rest of his employees safe.
Massachusetts
Incident Report
A father killed his two young children and himself when he set his car on fire in the parking lot of his estranged girlfriend's workplace. – source: wbztv.com, March 5, 2007
Background
The couple had been separated for a month. The woman had no active restraining orders or protection orders at the time of the incident.
Commentary
Most murder-suicides with three or more victims involved a "family annihilator" – a subcategory of intimate partner murder-suicide. Family annihilators are murderers who kill not only their wives or girlfriends and children, but often other family members as well before killing themselves, according to the Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.
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Incident Report
In the city of Lynn, a father of two used a homemade explosive device to kill himself and his children’s mother in the elevator of the downtown medical office building where she worked. – source: Globe March 16, 2007.
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence. At one time, the victim filed – and then rescinded – a restraining order after the man abducted her at knife point and threatened to kill her. She also told a co-worker her troubles but later said “things” were okay.
Aftermath
The office building sustained heavy damage, and the companies quartered there – and the employees – were all displaced. The woman’s employer offered grief counseling.
Commentary
It is not unusual for a woman to take out and then later rescind a restraining order, order of protection, anti harassment order, etc. The victim’s thinking usually involves three parts: hope, shame and fear. She always hopes it will get better, is ashamed and embarrassed to tell anyone and terrified he will kill her no matter what she does. The domino effect of domestic violence: The unanticipated costs of moving a business as a result of domestic violence carried into the workplace is devastating to an employer, the employees and the owner of the office building. And that does not include the cost to the owner of the office building to rebuild and find new tenants.
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Incident Report
A woman in the city of Webster was shot and killed, and a co-worker injured, by the woman’s ex-boyfriend at the auto parts store where she worked. Police captured the gunman in the woods in a nearby town. – source: Boston Channel.com, Jan. 29, 2008
Background
The victim, who on occasion had bailed the ex-boyfriend out of jail, ended their relationship last year. It isn’t known whether the victim tried to get a restraining order against the boyfriend, or whether her co-workers were aware of the man’s violent behavior. Police said the man did have a restraining order against him ... by a previous girlfriend.
Commentary
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. With a history of restraining orders against him, and a history of being in and out of jail, it was no secret that this perpetrator was a violent man.
Mississippi
Incident Report
An estranged husband, his wife, and two others were killed in a murder-suicide at a bank where the wife worked. – source: WLBT.com, March 12, 2008
Background
Police said the husband entered the bank and began arguing his ex-wife, a on-duty teller. A bank employee and a customer who tried to intervene were shot to death, whereupon the shooter forced his ex-wife into his truck and fled. A month before divorce papers were filed the husband took a gun in his wife’s mouth and pulled the trigger but the gun didn’t fire. Co-workers were aware of the violence in her relationship.
Commentary
I found it difficult to find any news on this shooting even though four people died in a small town in Mississippi. Last year, when one woman was killed at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta – in the CNN Center – the shooting was all over the media. In 16 months of research on domestic violence fatalities in the workplace, this incident had the highest body count. Who decides which incidents of domestic violence are worth more coverage than others?
Missouri
Incident Report
Workers in the city of Overland scrambled for safety from flying bullets and shattering windows when an armed man opened fire on an ex-girlfriend, killing her in the medical office where she worked. – source: St. Louis Post Dispatch, Sept. 19, 2007
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence. The couple had one child together.
Aftermath
Two of the three businesses in the victim’s office building chose to relocate as a result of the trauma experienced by their employees. Counseling was offered to all employees.
Commentary
Intimate partner violence spilling into the workplace is an uninsurable cost to an employer. No company can insure against lost revenue, productivity, reputation and employee moral when domestic violence is carried into work. The couple had not been together for over two years, which begs the question: How long does it take for a woman to be safe again after leaving a violent relationship? In Western Washington, a young professor was murdered on campus just because he was a co-worker of a woman who was being stalked. The mental and emotional cost of the crime on the victim’s colleagues and the student body cannot be underestimated.
Montana
Incident Report
In the city of Missoula, a 20-year-old man shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend outside the Macy’s department store where she worked, and then administered first aid as she lay bleeding in the parking lot. – source: NewWest.net, May 7, 2007
Background
The gunman, against whom a previous girlfriend had issued a restraining order, dated the victim for about two years before she ended the relationship.
Aftermath
Soon after the shooting, the woman moved out of the city and is currently unemployed. The department store where she worked flew in grief counselors for its other employees.
Commentary
Combating intimate partner violence in the workplace requires a coordinated effort between management, security and the human resources department. It is unknown if Macy’s changed its policies or procedures after this incident, but the employer has enlisted and coordinated all three of the requirements to combat domestic violence when it is carried into the workplace. – “Leaving a domestic violence relationship is not a guarantee of safety against future violence for the victim, her children or future relationships. 81 percent of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner are also physically assaulted by that partner”, according to aardvarc.org. If the stalker knows where his intended victim works, he knows where to find her and her co-workers at least 40 hours a week.
Nevada
Incident Report
One man was killed and a woman critically injured in North Las Vegas shooting involving the woman’s ex-boyfriend. – source: Las Vegas Now, March 29, 2008
Background
The woman’s ex-boyfriend sent her flowers the week before, and she responded with a restraining order.
Commentary
This incident is just the latest example of collateral damage. In Florida, one county reports that nearly half of its domestic violence victims last year were not the intended victims – instead, they were co-workers, relatives, or bystanders. "We have crossed that line where family violence has left the living room and is now on the streets," said Carol Wick, chief executive of a domestic-violence shelter in the Orlando area. "We need to take a step back and look at all these people who were killed in domestic disputes, and realize that the next victim could be one of us. We are all in danger."
New Jersey
Incident Report
An estranged boyfriend shot and killed his ex-girlfriend at her job before taking his own life. – Source: NBC.com. Aug. 26, 2008
Background
The woman, who until shortly before her murder was living with her killer, complained to police about his harassment but declined to arrange for a restraining order.
Commentary
A Restraining Order, also called a Protection Order or No-Contact Order (depending where and why they are issued) are just pieces of paper. They do not stop bullets, and they would not have stopped a stray bullet from hitting an innocent customer in the store where this woman worked. It is not always in the victim’s best interest to get a restraining order. Each case and circumstance needs to be carefully examined.
New York
Incident Report
The wife of a former policeman jumped from her husband’s moving car, and escaped an attempted murder-suicide plot outside her office. The husband was accused of trying to kill them both by detonating a jug of gasoline. – source: North County Gazette, May 24, 2007
Organizational Response
Co-workers and other employees of the building came to her aid as she jumped from the car and ran to the lobby of her office building.
Background
Earlier in the day the husband appeared in court on assault charges after allegedly whipping his two daughters, dousing them with water and chaining them to a tree overnight. Several days earlier the estranged husband smashed the windows of his wife’s car with a claw hammer and threatened to kill her.
Commentary
Law enforcement is not immune to domestic violence relationships. If the perpetrator in an intimate partner violent relationship is employed by law enforcement agency the victim may have a more difficult time accessing domestic violence resources. In another incident at a shopping center parking lot in Gig Harbor, Wash. on April 25, 2003, the police chief of Tacoma, Wash. murdered his wife and took his own life. The murder-suicide cost the city $12 million in a civil law suit.
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Incident Report
A man sitting in an idling car rammed it into his girlfriend's car several time as she drove to work. He finally ran her off the road ... with the couple's infant son in the woman's back seat. Source: Times Herald-Record May 31, 2008
Background
The boyfriend was already facing a misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly hitting his girlfriend. She had obtained a restraining order against him.
Aftermath
Police found a machete, a bayonet, and a bow and arrows in the back of the man's car. It's unclear whether he intended to use the weapons on his girlfriend or son.
Commentary
If a domestic violence perpetrator knows where you work, he knows how he will have access to you at least 40 hours per week. It is absolutely necessary for your safety, your co-workers safety, and your children’s safety, that you confide in your manager or your HR department that you are in, or are leaving, or are contemplating leaving, a violent relationship.
North Carolina
Incident Report
An estranged husband with a history of domestic violence ambushed and killed his wife at her office, and then took his own life as police were closing in on him. – source: Hickory Daily Record, Aug. 24, 2007
Background
The husband, against whom a protection order was issued, attempted to kill his wife earlier this year, and had been banned from the office after chasing a co-worker with a gun. The couple had two children.
Aftermath
The victim’s employer provided a week of grief counseling after the shooting. Months later, several employees continued to work with the counselor.
Commentary
It is unknown whether her domestic violence protection order included her workplace. He came to her workplace stalking her and threatening other employees with a gun. The employer’s workplace can be included in the order, however, a piece of paper will not stop a perpetrator that is intent on finding his victim. Her workplace and other co-workers will always be at risk. This employer is a small family-owned business with less than a dozen employees. The employer and employees were aware of the violent relationship, though they didn’t believe it was that dangerous.
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Incident Report
A woman was allegedly shot by her ex-husband in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked, as their two children watched. The children were unharmed. – source: WRAL.com, Nov. 13, 2007
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence. They had recently separated for three months. An emergency protection order was issued a week before the incident, when the ex-boyfriend began to stalk the victim.
Aftermath
The ex-husband is currently at large.
Commentary
Parking lots at work are increasingly dangerous places for women in domestic violence relationships. It is unclear whether the co-workers or management were aware of the domestic violence history in this incident. If human resources are made aware, safety precautions can be implemented both for the victim and for her co-workers. Some women erroneously believe that if the children are not being physically or verbally abused, they are not being harmed. But watching their mother get shot, beaten or hearing her get verbally abused by their father is harmful and should be considered child abuse.
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Incident Report
Police captured a man accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend outside a Hoke County textile plant where she worked. – source: WRAL.com, April 29, 2008
Background
The couple, parents of three children, had a violent, on-again-off-again relationship for 12 years. Just weeks before the incident, the boyfriend rammed the girlfriend’s car with his own. Newly separated, the victim never filed for a restraining order.
Commentary
We never want to think that our friend, our sister, our co-worker, our mother or ourselves will be a victim of domestic violence. Let me say again, the most dangerous time for a woman leaving an abusive relationship is the first year they are out. It’s terrifying to admit that someone you have loved, shared a bed with and may have children with, is capable of killing you. However, it is much more difficult for your children, family and friends to bury you.
Ohio
Incident Report
A woman on her way to work narrowly escaped death after her ex-boyfriend shot her in the back before turning the gun on himself. – source: Sandusky Register, Aug. 27, 2007
Background
Police were aware of at least four previous domestic violence situations between the two. The boyfriend had previously threatened to kill the woman and himself. Police monitored her workplace for five days as a precaution.
Commentary
When a woman is running from a violent relationship, her job can be one of the most dangerous aspects of her life. When a mother needs to support herself after leaving a violent relationship just the act of getting to work and home again can be like running a gauntlet when her abuser knows where she works and the routes she takes to get to her work. She is vulnerable to attack by her abuser all the way to work and home again. Routine is the enemy of a woman trying to avoid an abuser. If he knows where she works, the hours she works and the routes she takes to work, she is the proverbial “sitting duck.”
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Incident Report
The estranged husband of a schoolteacher charged into a Catholic elementary school where his wife worked, and stabbed her to death as her students watched. Minutes earlier, the gunman stabbed and wounded a another woman in an alley about five blocks from the school. The gunman was found at home, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. – source: The Associated Press, Feb. 7, 2008
Background
The victim had filed for divorce a month before the attack. And just two weeks before the attack, police were called on a domestic dispute between the couple. The victim’s lawyer and co-workers were aware of the domestic violence. A domestic violence petition had been filed.
Aftermath
School closed the day following the shooting. The diocese sent a crisis team to the school and counselors were made available for students and teachers.
Commentary
The most vulnerable time for a woman escaping from a violent relationship is the first year. Sadly, it was true of this woman, who was in the process of ending her relationship.
Oklahoma
Incident Report
A Pryor man was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon for allegedly holding a knife to his ex-girlfriend’s throat at her business. He pursued her as she ran to a business next door, and fled when confronted by another worker. – source: The Daily Times, December 29, 2007
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence.
Aftermath
The ex-boyfriend is currently at large.
Commentary
How long will the woman have to live in fear of her ex-boyfriend coming back for her at her workplace? This time he ran away. He knows where she works and what hours she works. What will happen the next time she is confronted by him? He has already threatened to kill her at her workplace. The next time he comes back will he leave so easily? Will co-workers be injured?
South Carolina
Incident Report
A Darlington man shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself during an argument the two had at the woman’s job. Source: scnow.com July 11,2008
Background
Police had a standoff with Robert Edwards at his home in 1996 because he was threatening to do harm to himself. Recently the couple separated.
Commentary
All threats of suicide, especially if domestic violence is involved needs to be taken seriously. Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner(spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners. Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.
Texas
Incident Report
A man in the town of Lufkin entered a regional chain restaurant where his wife worked and threatened to kill her. – source: Lufkin Daily News, May 19, 2007
Organizational Response
Restaurant employees called the police.
Background
The couple had a history of domestic violence, and, in keeping with the restaurant’s “open door” policy, the woman made her restaurant manager aware of the situation.
Aftermath
A spokesman for the restaurant chain said its managers discussed how they might update their “open door” policy as a result of the threat, but the company later decided that no policy changes were necessary. The woman quit her job.
Commentary
The woman took advantage of the restaurant’s “open door” policy and discussed her violent relationship with her boss. The employer tried to work with and accommodate the employee with her domestic situation. However, even with these practices the employer could not salvage the expense of hiring and training a new employee when she quit because of a violent relationship.
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Incident Report
One day after an estranged husband threatened to kill his wife at a restaurant in Lufkin, a second man in the same town assaulted his wife at the nursing home where she worked. – source: Lufkin Daily News, May 20, 2007.
Background
Police said the couple has a history of domestic violence, and that a week before the workplace attacks, he chased her around the house with a baseball bat.
Commentary
When on the way to work, leaving work and in the work parking lot, women are particularly vulnerable to assaults by violent partners. The abusive partner knows the timeline. If an employer is aware of a domestic violence relationship with an employee, they can make arrangements to move the employee to an assigned parking area, have security personnel escort the employee to her car and/or alert co-workers of a particular vehicle. Many steps can be taken to make the workplace safer for all employees. An employee must feel their job is not in jeopardy if they divulge the danger of their domestic situation.
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Incident Report
A woman who long sought protection from a husband she described as violent was shot to death by the man where she worked. Source: caller.com July 02, 2008
Background
In an affidavit asking for a restraining order, the victim described her husband as a violent man who had threatened to kill her and repeatedly called and sent her text messages saying he hated her.
Commentary
The woman's divorce attorney said she urged her to call police after every incidence of abuse. "She believed that if she was just nice to him it would all stop. Whether you yourself are an “unsafe woman”, or you're an HR professional or the manager of women employees, remember the lawyer's words: “She believed if she was just nice to him it would all stop.” Violence is a terminal disease and it doesn't go away by being nice or treating it politely.
Washington D.C.
Incident Report
A woman is wanted for allegedly shooting her ex-girlfriend in the neck from close range in the Safeway parking lot where the victim worked, paralyzing her from the neck down, unable to breathe on her own. – source: WTOPnews.com, Oct. 1, 2007
Background
The ex-girlfriend allegedly made threatening and harassing calls to the victim’s workplace shortly after they broke up. In August, the victim told police she was assaulted by her ex-girlfriend, who was arrested a few weeks later and ordered to stay away.
Commentary
In this increasingly violent world we cannot ignore the fact that women have the ability to be just as lethal as men. Intimate partner violence has no boundaries. It does not matter if you are heterosexual or homosexual, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, or what color your skin is. Violence is violence.
Washington State
Incident Report
A 26-year-old University of Washington employee was shot to death in a murder-suicide by her former boyfriend, who then turned the gun on himself. – source: The Seattle Times, April 2, 2007
Background
The couple had dated for several years, and shared a home for a while. Earlier this year, the victim obtained a domestic-violence protection order, changed her address and phone numbers, and asked co-workers to watch for her attacker. In spite of the woman’s precautions, the ex-boyfriend continued to stalk her for months.
Aftermath
The state’s Department of Labor and Industries fined the university for failing to communicate its workplace safety policies, thus endangering the victim and other employees.
Commentary
The university established many of its anti-violence policies in the aftermath of another fatal campus shooting seven years earlier. At that time, a workplace violence-prevention assessment team was created and a coordinator hired, and policies were set, making it easier for supervisors to report workplace threats to the university's HR department and online to its Environmental Health & Safety Department. The most recent attack illustrates how merely having violence-in-the-workplace policies and procedures do not translate into action or safety for employees.
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Incident Report
A murder–suicide took the life of a 32-year-old mother of two at a small storefront business in the Seattle region. After shooting her, the man she briefly dated turned the gun on himself. – source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 5, 2007
Background
The couple dated for a short time, and when the woman ended the relationship the man began stalking her, calling her and driving by her house. He once threatened to hurt her and kill himself if they didn’t get back together. The woman didn’t alert authorities.
Aftermath
It took several months before the small business where the victim worked was able to hire a new employee.
Commentary
Employers with less than three or four employees are at a greater financial risk when intimate partner violence enters the workplace. A small company has fewer resources to turn to when an employee is injured from a violent relationship, needs time off or has to quit because of a violent relationship. When an employer suffers the ultimate loss of a workplace homicide, the recovery for co-workers, the company’s reputation and productivity is more acutely felt. It is not unusual in a small business for the victim to also be related to her coworkers and or her boss.
Wisconson
Incident Report
A woman was critically wounded in the hospital parking lot where she worked by her estranged husband. He later committed suicide. She recently warned a judge that the man was dangerous and had threatened violence. – source: La Crosse Tribune, March 22, 2007
Background
Married for 17 years; separated. The victim filed for divorce in March 2006. February 27, 2007 she asked for a “harassment restraining order.” He had threatened her family, checked her cell phone calls and said he would have her watched.
Aftermath
During the incident a school was locked down for a time because the couple had three children there.
Commentary
All threats need to be taken seriously, especially if the perpetrator threatens suicide or other violence towards themselves. Often times the perpetrator does not only kill himself but also other family members. Murder suicides are not uncommon when dealing with a perpetrator that has threatened to kill himself.
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Incident Report
Less than two weeks after a divorce filing, a woman was shot to death at a local church where she had worked for eight years. Her estranged husband was hospitalized with gunshot wounds. No other co-workers were injured. - source: NBC26.com, June 15, 2007
Background
Married for 20 years, divorced 11 days ago. Friends and co-workers were aware of his anger management problems. Relationship was not healthy, asked many times if she believed he would harm her, she said “no.” Victim had confronted her estranged husband about harming her and his response was, “What kind of monster do you think I am?”
Aftermath
Lutheran Social Services offered counseling to the parishioners, however, not many attended. Most still do not want to talk about it.
Commentary
Violence has no boundaries. It does not respect race, religion, or economies. If you work in a church and are not safe there, where in this world can you work and be safe? This victim also worked part time at a gas station and ran her own catering business. How many more people could have been endangered had he chosen one of her other business locations? Homicide is not something that anyone wants to have happen at their place of business, in their home, and especially not at their church. Why do we keep pretending this won’t happen to us or anyone we know? The statistics say more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.
Wyoming
Incident Report
A National Guardsman with sniper training killed himself after fatally shooting his estranged wife as she sang with a band in a local restaurant. The attack came just hours after local police ordered the man to stop harassing the victim. – source: USA Today, July 14, 2007
Organizational Response
The restaurant closed for a day.
Background
The victim, who had moved out of the couple’s home a few weeks earlier, called police after getting several harassing phone calls. Police followed up, and ordered the guardsman to end the harassing calls.
Aftermath
Days after the shooting, restaurant employees could not bring themselves to return to work. Grief counseling was offered.
Commentary
The perpetrator of this crime had the talent, skill and training to be a long-range killer. Domestic violence goes to work every morning or evening with either the perpetrator or the victim, leaving all co-workers – and in this case the general public – that may have been between the sniper and his intended victim vulnerable. Intimate partner violence cannot be ignored by employers. Safety laws for the workplace can be applied to domestic violence relationships that have spilled into the workplace and endanger co-workers.