New Focus On Domestic Crisis Centers After Fatal Pleasanton Police Shooting
PLEASANTON (KPIX 5) – A fatal officer-involved shooting involving Pleasanton Police and a suspect shines a light on the domestic violence crisis, and the counselors who are ready to help anyone in need.
On Thursday, police received a call of a domestic violence situation at an apartment complex on Willow Road. The suspect barricaded himself for three hours before walking out.
Police said the man moved towards them carrying a knife, and that's when officers shot and killed him. Authorities have not released the suspect's identity.
The incident remains under investigation.
Tri Valley Haven in Livermore gets 4,000 crisis calls per year. That amounts to 11 calls per day from local survivors in need of help.
One of the crisis calls that came in Thursday to Tri Valley Haven was after the shooting.
Vicki Thompson with Tri Valley Haven told KPIX 5, "I can't reveal any details, but we were called by the police department to have advocates go out there and meet with the survivor and help her with crisis counseling on the spot and provide connections for whatever her long-term needs for counseling may be . "
She says all calls and all services are confidential.
Thompson says it can take an abused person up to seven times to eventually get out and stay out of an abusive relationship.
"Nobody wants to consider themselves an abused person," said Thompson.
Some residents in the complex yesterday said they didn't notice any red flags.
"I met him about a month ago, a usually I walk my dog and I will see him out with his girlfriend … seemed like a nice guy," said one resident.
"Sometimes too it's not all domestic violence so to speak it's physical battering. There all kinds of coercive control, psychological abuse, the name calling, the put downs, the financial control," Thompson said. "Threats to hurt pets, threats to take children and you'll never see them again. All of that counts as abuse."
In this incident, it's not yet known who initially called police.
"To anybody who is experiencing this or if you know somebody who has, it's not your fault. You don't deserve this no matter what somebody may have told you. Again just call and maybe you know somebody in a situation like that we can help with that," said Thompson.
