The Big Picture: DV Murder in Lithonia

Monday, March 22, 2010

DV Murder in Lithonia

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office has arrested an Ellenwood man and charged him with murder in connection with a shooting on March 14 in Lithonia.

The sheriff's office said Monday that deputies arrested Camario Terrell Watson, 23, on Thursday and charged him with the shooting death of Terry Hall, 42, of Lithonia.

Witnesses reported seeing Watson shoot Hall in the chest with a shotgun after Hall tried to mediate an argument between Watson and a female, allegedly Watson's girlfriend, sheriff's office spokeswoman Mikki Jones said.

Watson was arrested without incident in the parking lot of the South DeKalb Mall on Candler Road and was being held without bond Monday at the DeKalb jail.

Hall was trying to be a good guy and to bring down the situation, but batterers can be some of the most dangerous people to confront. This is where treating domestic violence as a private matter that doesn't hurt anyone but the family involved can be very dangerous. If we as a society took domestic violence seriously and saw batterers as the dangerous people that they are, Hall might not have felt safe to try and mediate the situation. He may have called the police. Instead, his life was taken from him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

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Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through physical, sexual, emotional, and/or financial abuse. Both men and women are capable of misusing power and perpetrating violence, and male victims are often just as afraid to call the police. More resources for female survivors exist, however, because overwhelmingly women and children suffer the most severe consequences (medical, legal, social, and financial) and therefore require the most intensive interventions.

Many women choose to stay in abusive relationships because they do not want their relationship to end...just the violence. Women often remain in, or return to, abusive relationships because their partners threaten to harm them and their loved ones if they attempt to leave. Commonly, women choose to leave when they become convinced that their life is at risk, or that their children are in danger.

Domestic violence is not just a "family matter". The violence will not stop until men and women come together with a common attitude of non-tolerance. We must speak out for those who may not feel safe speaking up, and our children must learn through our words and example that violence is never justified.