YWCA to host domestic violence forum

Alarmed by a recent rash of murder-suicides in the metro area, the YWCA Clark County SafeChoice Domestic Violence Program will host a community forum at noon Thursday to explore how the community can protect itself from the surge in domestic violence incidents.

The forum, called “Standing Together against Domestic Violence in Our Community,” will be from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Community Room, 3609 Main St. in Vancouver.

Community leaders will be available to answer questions.

The escalation in violence is “a call to action that domestic violence cannot be ignored,” the YWCA said in announcing the forum. “Our community needs to band together to support survivors and hold abusers accountable. The crime of domestic violence impacts the entire community, including our families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and children who witness or experience the abuse.”

YWCA Clark County operates a battered women’s shelter in Vancouver and works closely with police and prosecutors to help victims of domestic violence win protection from their abusers. In all, the nonprofit helps more than 5,000 survivors of domestic violence annually through the shelter and other services.

In just two weeks in November, nine people in Oregon died in domestic violence murder-suicides. The issue flared into the headlines locally last week when police confirmed that the deaths by gunshot of Erin and Kyle Epley of Vancouver on Dec. 2 were a murder-suicide.

Erin Epley died of multiple gunshot wounds; her death was classified as a homicide. Her husband, Kyle Epley, died of a gunshot wound to the head and was ruled a suicide. The couple’s 6-year-old daughter told neighbors her parents had been shot.