Yes, this is DV

In Covington:

The Covington Police Department and Covington/Newton County SWAT responded to a Forest Drive residence Tuesday evening where a man apparently shot and killed himself inside his ex-wife’s home.

According to Lt. Wendell Wagstaff, Gary Darby, 46, a resident of Virginia, was found inside the residence shortly after police arrived.

Wagstaff said the police were called to the residence around 5:30 p.m. in reference to a burglary in progress.

“(The ex-wife) had said she left her residence about 8:30 on the 16th and when she returned around 5:30 p.m. she observed her ex-husband’s vehicle backed up into the carport and the entry door to the residence was damaged,” Wagstaff said.

The resident did not want to enter the house and called police, Wagstaff said. When police arrived on the scene, they tried to make contact with the ex-husband but were unsuccessful, Wagstaff said. He added that a suicide note was found inside the man’s vehicle, and that’s when SWAT was called in.

Wagstaff said it was determined that Darby was deceased before police arrived.

Yes, we would consider this domestic violence. Remember, domestic violence isn't specifically about using violence or abusive language against a partner, although those tactics are common. Domestic violence is about power and control. We may never know exactly what Darby was trying to communicate, but he broke into his ex-wife's house and clearly meant her to find his body. He may have threatened to kill himself if she didn't take him back or do something else he wanted. He may have claimed that she ruined his life and wanted to punish her with guilt. Or he may simply have been done with life but wanted to use his last action to continue to harass her with trauma, law enforcement investigation, and clean-up costs. Either way, there seemed to be a history of domestic violence since she was afraid to enter her home with his truck in the driveway, and this appears to be one final escalation of that violence.