Issue Is Violence, Not Court Security Seattle Shootings Obscure Real Problems Facing Women

The cry rumbled through the King County Courthouse: Beef up security.

Metal detectors might have snared the handgun used by a man to shoot three women in the Seattle courthouse, some charged.

But those killings last week reinforced a different message for many domestic violence advocates.

“We’re not meeting the needs of victims,” said Debra Lambourn, executive director of the Tacoma YWCA Women’s Support Shelter.

“There’s so many, many women in danger, I’m afraid they’re falling through the cracks.”

Susana Blackwell, eight months pregnant, and two of her friends were shot outside a courtroom Thursday as they waited for Blackwell’s divorce trial to resume. Moments later, police arrested Blackwell’s estranged husband, Timothy, as he stood nearby, gun in hand.

Susana Blackwell had claimed she was beaten and choked last year by her husband.

The triple homicide in the very public setting has dominated headlines and newscasts ever since.

But advocates see domestic abuse quietly claim its victims, through injury or death, every day in every community.

The reality is that most attacks on battered women happen not in the courthouse, but in the street, the parking lot, the home, said Denese Bohanna, Pierce County’s domestic violence policy coordinator.

“We want to make crystal clear that this is a domestic-violence murder,” June Meyers, of the Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center, said of the Blackwell case.

“This is not a courthouse security issue. … This is not a gun-control issue.” Women’s advocates note the Blackwell killings are the latest in a rash of domestic violence homicides in Western Washington over the past two weeks.

They count at least five other victims:

Last Monday, Cindy Coston, 35, was shot in the head in her Bothell home. Her husband, who told police the gun he was cleaning accidentally fired, was charged with manslaughter. Prosecutors allege he had a history of abusing his wife.

Also on Monday, the body of Michele Lyn Smith, 32, was found in her Bellingham apartment. Her former boyfriend, charged earlier with beating and sexually assaulting her in December, is a suspect.

Last Sunday, Anita Boissineau, 21, and her 9-month-old daughter, Kirah, were found stabbed to death in their Parkland apartment. Her husband has been charged with two counts of murder.

Feb. 18, LaRhonda Toney of Tacoma was found stabbed to death, her body dumped near a highway exit. Prosecutors charged her boyfriend with murder.

“I want to just put my head in my hands and say I can’t deal with this any more,” said Lambourn. “How many times do we have to say we need more victim services?”

Bohanna said inconsistencies in reporting make it difficult to get an accurate picture of the scope of domestic violence. The Legislature has directed that the cases be tallied statewide, but provided no money for the job.

“We don’t have a good data system,” she said.

Limited resources make it tough for shelters and victim advocates to keep pace with what appear to be the growing cries for help.

The YWCA shelter, the Family Renewal Shelter in Pierce County, and the Domestic Abuse Women’s Network in South King County, have been filled to capacity nearly every night this year, say directors for the agencies.

While some of the demand prob ably is related to heightened public awareness, Lambourn credits much of the recent increase to the O.J. Simpson trial, which began in January.

That month, calls to the YWCA crisis line tripled.

Whenever an act of domestic violence is splashed in the news, requests for help to the YWCA shelter rise, said Lambourn.

She expects the same fallout from publicity surrounding the Blackwell killings. Crammed shelters may be forced to turn away even more women and children.

Already, the killings have sent shudders through the women staying at the Tacoma shelter.

“They’re scared to death,” Lambourn said. “One person backed out from doing a protection order cause she’s that frightened.”