On June 29, Phoukeo Dej-Oudom was gunned down by her husband in a Walgreens parking lot. He then killed their three children before turning the gun on himself. The tragedy marked the second domestic violence murder-suicide in Las Vegas in the past two months.
The news grew even more heartbreaking when we learned that Phoukeo Dej-Oudom filed for divorce in May, and that days before her death she had filed a restraining order against her husband. That request was denied.
Similarly, the May murder of Christina Franklin, which took place in front of her children’s daycare, happened two days after a judge denied the request to revoke her ex-boyfriend’s bail. Franklin’s ex-boyfriend shot her two children (who suffered non-life-threatening injuries) before killing himself. Cases like these illustrate the importance of judges taking victims’ statements seriously, Hannah Brook, Safe Nest’s director of community and donor relations, says.
“Some temporary protective order judges don’t want to break up the family,” she says, explaining why a judge might deny a request for a protective order even when evidence of domestic violence has been documented. The murder of Dej-Oudom and her children came the same week the Supreme Court upheld a gun ban for domestic violence abusers. “Having a firearm in the house and domestic violence ... will increase domestic-violence homicide chances five times,” Brook says.
Vegas’ two recent familicides remind us of the importance of dialogue about domestic violence, which includes proper training and tools for judges to notice and flag abusive patterns. Brook says bystanders who witness domestic violence should always call the police. “‘I didn’t want to get involved.’ That’s something we continuously hear. Call 911 and allow the police to get involved,” she says.
If you’re a victim of domestic violence or suspect someone you know is being abused, Brook says the best thing to do is call a resource like Safe Nest, Safe House or Shade Tree. “Each time you call [us], we’ll listen and give you as many tools as you possibly need to finally make that first step,” she says. “You don’t have to have a bag ready. You can call as many times as you want until you gain that confidence that you’re ready to leave.”
