Letter: We must educate youth about domestic violence

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 8, 2016

Domestic violence

Educate youth about abuse

Dwight and I live about three blocks from where the Mukilteo shooting occurred. Most of our neighbors were awakened by what they thought were fireworks at first, only to realize a gun was being fired! Our little town has been shaken very hard. All of this is very upsetting. The kids involved are our son’s age. Dan didn’t personally know the victims, but he has friends who did.

What upsets me more each day are the statements made by the media and The Herald (which I read every day) about how the killer was jealous that Anna was “seeing other guys” even though in the killer’s words, “we were talking about getting back together.” My heart breaks for Anna’s family. Not only have they lost their beautiful daughter in such a terrible way to domestic violence, but moreover their daughter has been silenced; she has no voice with which to tell her side of the story. The threads of jealousy and “ownership” that the killer talks about sound a lot like what happened at the Marysville Pilchuck High School mass murder. I believe that we as a society need to educate our youth and young adults more about what domestic violence in a relationship looks like. We as a community and society need to do something immediately to address this.

Holly Johnson

Mukilteo