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Maryland Moms Demand Action, Everytown Respond to Reports of a Fatal Domestic Violence-Related Shooting in Montgomery County

5.8.2018

Reports Indicate Three People Were Shot and Killed

Research Shows that Nearly Four out of 10 Maryland Women Have Reported Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence in their Lifetime

BROOKEVILLE, Md. – The Maryland chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today issued the following statement in response to reports that three people were fatally shot and killed in a Montgomery County home earlier today. Three other adults who had also been in the house at the time of the shooting escaped unharmed. One of those adults is the shooter’s wife who later reported that she was held by her husband over the weekend before she ran away to a neighbor’s house on Monday afternoon. The suspected shooter returned to his home where he refused to leave, and hours later he was found dead from self-inflicted wounds.

Research shows that nearly four out of 10 Maryland women have reported experiencing intimate partner violence in their lifetime. The costs are high: According to the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, 218 victims died in domestic violence homicide incidents in Maryland from 2011 to 2017. And, guns are the weapon of choice for domestic abusers: nearly 60 percent of domestic violence homicides in Maryland were committed using a firearm. More than four out of five these incidents were directed toward women. Domestic violence can often claim the lives of victims outside abusive relationship including family members, friends and law enforcement officers.

STATEMENT FROM ANGELA WRIGHT, VOLUNTEER WITH THE MARYLAND CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA:

“We’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the victims as well as the entire Montgomery County community. As a domestic violence survivor, I know how terrifying it can be when your abuser owns a gun. This shooting is another devastating reminder that we need to continue to to focus on protecting women and families in Maryland from the deadly combination of domestic violence with firearms.”