GUEYDAN — The victim of the deadly shooting near Gueydan is being identified as the father of the suspect. The Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office tells KATC that Anthony Caro III shot Anthony Caro Jr. on Wednesday night in front of their home on Lakeside Drive in Gueydan.
People who live on Lakeside Drive say that this caliber of an incident never occurs in their neighborhood, and some say that the news was not completely shocking.
Executive Director of Faith House Billi Lacombe says that the numbers of domestic violence cases within family households has increased since the pandemic began a year ago.
"Most of the individuals that have contacted us attribute that to the offender being home more often than normal," she says. "Some people were home or not working at all during the pandemic, and some people were working from home, and that led to more exposures and more opportunities for more violence to be perpetrated in the home."
Lacombe believes that the stress brought onto individuals from the pandemic plays a major role in the increase.
"These are incidents that are occurring in homes where abuse already exists," she says. "But they may be happening more frequently or even more severely due to the issues related to the pandemic, or money, or other factors that might be taking place there."
And while it is a year later and most people are beginning to return back to normalcy, the number of domestic violence cases is not declining.
"We are at about a steady rate of what we have been over the past year of requests for assistance for shelter, counseling, and all of the other services that our organization provides," says Lacombe.
She says that families that experience domestic violence within their household have a hard time reaching out for help and when they do it can be scary and uncomfortable, but there are things that family members and friends can do to help victims.
"What we want to urge and encourage you to do is not take away the autonomy of the person being abused and to make sure that you are lending support and encouragement and really just being there for them," she says. "And for the family and friends of the offender, it's important to hold them accountable for their actions. That is one of the ways that someone can actually make a huge impact in domestic violence situations."
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence or struggling with the issue, the Faith House encourages you to speak up and ask for help before it's too late. You can contact their 24/7 hotline at 1-888-411-1333, orvisit their website.
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