King County prosecutors are warning of a troubling rise in domestic violence-related deaths across the region after two murder-suicides happened last Tuesday in Bellevue and Kent.
The incidents happened on the same day a regional domestic violence task force had convened to discuss how to address cases in which perpetrators have no prior criminal history or involvement with law enforcement.
“We are seeing a troubling rise in domestic violence-related violent deaths, especially in South King County, including intimate partner homicides, family homicides, and murder-suicides,” said David Martin, chair of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office domestic violence unit. “What stands out to a lot of us is that many of these cases — almost all of them — had little legal system involvement before the violence escalated.”
2 murder-suicides in one day highlight a hidden crisis in King County
In the Bellevue case, the details emerged while the task force was in the middle of its meeting. Later that night, a middle-aged man killed his father in Kent…