#parent | #kids | #students | #parents | Cy-Fair community against domestic violence

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, 56 people were killed because of domestic violence Harris and Fort Bend counties in 2018. One of them was 16-year-old Shana Fisher, a student killed during the school shooting at Santa Fe High School in May 2018 and the youngest victim of domestic violence that year.

Susan Hastings with Katy Christian Ministries Crisis Center said Fisher was killed because of the aggressive, abusive behavior from the shooter, who kept pursuing her despite their lack of relationship and her repeated rejections of his unwarranted advances.

“He also shot and killed nine more victims and injured 13 additional people,” Hastings said. “Shana had repeatedly objected his unwanted romantic advances in the months before the shooting. He had become increasingly aggressive toward her and this is the situation that we found ourselves in.”

Lone Star College-CyFair hosted their Take Back the Night event on Oct. 22 to raise awareness for domestic violent situations of all kinds, including the aggressive behavior that took Fisher’s life. Several resources, including the Katy Christian Ministries Crisis Center and campus police, spoke about the issue before attendees formed a procession and walked around the campus in honor of domestic violence victims to raise awareness.

Attendees could wear glowsticks to light their way during the walk, with purple glow sticks representing domestic violence while aqua glow sticks represented sexual violence. Attendees also wore purple, the official color for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, to represent solidarity with victims.

Angelica Sutton, counselor with LSC-CyFair, said the event is held nationally in honor of victims in hopes of opening up the conversation to raise awareness. According to the Texas Council on Family Violence, women between 20 and 39 made up 49 percent of victims in 2017.

“We’re all aware of the incidents of sexual assault on a lot of college campuses,” Sutton said. “Through knowledge, through education, hopefully we can reduce the number of incidents especially when it results in lives that are cut short.”

Courtney Porter, staff attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, said her nonprofit law firm handles domestic violence cases and can discretely help domestic violence victims discreetly and safely. She said she personally handles cases in the crime victims unit.

“Specifically we do protective orders, things that might be helpful to victims of crimes. We have different services such as social workers that can refer clients to housing, shelter, other resources like that,” Porter said. “If you are aware of someone that may need some legal services, may need some assistance, that has been affected by a crime of domestic violence then you can definitely refer to them to the crime victims unit.”

Hastings said many times her center advises victims not to leave their abuser immediately.

“It’s very dangerous for a woman when they leave the abuser,” she said. “We try to help them with resources, give them access to shelters so that they can find a safe place to go away from where the abuser might be able to locate them. We have found that the highest rate of murder is after a woman leaves a violent situation.”

Arhinna Luciano gave a speech about her own experience as a domestic violence survivor, reminding the crowd that it is easier to give advice to a victim than it is to take it.

“I would give these numbers to people, I would tell people, “You can get help. It’s really easy, you can go do this,”” she said. “When I found myself in that situation, it wasn’t as easy as you think it could be.”

Patricia Vidito, police captain for the LSC-CyFair campus, said officers are always ready to help anyone on campus in need.

“If you all have any issues you can always come into our office, you can always stop an officer or security guard and they will give you resources and guide you in the right direction,” she said. “Always be supportive, unbiased and encourage that person to come out and report an incident. Violence and crimes should be taken care of and we are here to provide that.”

If someone on or near the LSC-CyFair campus needs help with domestic violence or any other issues, they can call the police alert hotline 281-290-2652.

chevall.pryce@chron.com