Deadly violence cases in Louisiana and Virginia have renewed attention on domestic abuse—and on the resources advocates say Black communities need to prevent it. The Associated Press reported on separate killings that targeted Black mothers and their children, and officials and experts in both places said the tragedies reflect broader patterns rather than isolated events.

In Shreveport, Louisiana, police identified Shamar Elkins as fatally shooting seven of his children and another child, while Elkins’ wife was wounded, according to the AP report. A relative of Elkins’ wife said Elkins was in the midst of separating from his wife. In suburban Washington, D.C., police found the bodies of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, his estranged wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, and then said Fairfax shot himself; police said their two children in the home at the time were unhurt.

The AP report said it remains unclear what prompted either the Shreveport killings or the apparent murder-suicide in Annandale, Virginia. But experts interviewed for the story said the details echo patterns that play out in homes across the country and underscore the need for solutions that address disparities in access to care and underlying risk factors.

In Shreveport, councilman Grayson Boucher described the Louisiana case as emblematic of “a true epidemic of domestic violence” in the city. The AP report also described the Elkins family’s exposure to gender-based gun violence before the latest killings, including accounts from authorities and family that a prior shooting involved Shaneiqua Elkins being shot and her sister, Keosha Pugh, being injured while escaping. Lionel Pugh, an uncle, said the family lost their mother to gun violence when the children were under age 10, and the AP report said another woman authorities have not identified was also shot.

Advocates said the risk of violence is shaped by how Black women can access help, including both domestic violence services and mental health care. Pamela Tate, executive director of Black Women Revolt, told the AP that “domestic violence doesn’t see color,” and said the question often centers on whether men believe women are subjects or property. She also said a “logical skepticism” toward police and government child services agencies—driven by a history of institutionalized racism—can make Black women reluctant to seek help, which advocates said can leave families without support until violence escalates.

The AP report cited research on how often Black women experience intimate-partner violence, including a 2014 Centers for Disease Control study that found more than 4 in 10 Black women experience physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetimes. The story also referenced a 2025 Violence Policy Center study, based on federal government data from 2023, that found Black women are two times more likely to be murdered by men than white women. According to the AP report, that study found that more than 9 in 10 Black female victims knew their killers and that most were killed with guns.

With speculation about whether mental health crises played a role in both incidents, the AP report included perspectives from mental health professionals. Dr. Christine Crawford, an adult and child psychiatrist who said she had not examined either case, told the AP that financial troubles, marital issues and problems at work—along with underlying mental health vulnerabilities—can lead someone to “crack.” She said many Black people can be “priced out of programs and care” and face barriers such as private care costs and lack of insurance.

Crawford also said desperation can make people feel “completely out of options on how to deal with the pain he was in at that moment.” The AP report also included comments from University of Michigan social work professor Daphne C. Watkins, who said mental health disparities are “not accidental” and are “the predictable result of structural racism” in schools, employment and other aspects of society. Watkins, founder of the YBMen Project, said studies show 10% of Black adults experience moderate to severe depression and 18% experience anxiety disorders, and she said Black men often forego mental health treatment due to cultural expectations and costs.

While some in the wake of the killings focused on mental health risk factors, advocates also pushed back on framing mental illness as a reason for domestic violence. Tate told the AP: “To say they’re mentally ill, that doesn’t cut it,” and she said there are people who are depressed or have schizophrenia who do not harm partners. She added that Shaneiqua Elkins and Cerina Fairfax could have been struggling with mental health challenges too, but Tate said they “had the same access or ability to go and purchase a gun” and still chose not to harm others. Tate said, “The mental illness is not what we’re talking about here.”

The AP report’s overall thrust was that the combination of domestic violence and mental health concerns calls for more prevention resources and more accessible care, alongside a continued emphasis that abuse and killing are choices that cannot be excused. It also highlighted that those choices occur in settings where barriers to support—shaped by race, gender, and institutional distrust—can determine whether help arrives before a crisis turns fatal.

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