Originally posted by FOX13Memphis.com News Staff.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As crime in Memphis grows, one local organization is working to keep women safe from violent situations.
Deborah Clubb, executive director of the Memphis Area Women’s Council, said the violence this year is connected to the strain and stress of isolation and exacerbated responsibility.
According to Memphis Police, there have been 30 murders in the city so far in 2022.
Many of them involved a woman who was victimized by domestic violence.
Clubb said if a gun is present during a domestic violence situation, there is a 500 percent chance of a homicide.
“It’s very alarming that women are being targeted simply for being women,” she said. “We think we are in relationships where we can be appreciated and loved. In reality we are in situations where we are abused and blamed and very often this ends up in homicide.”
Andrea Owens spoke with FOX13′s Jeremy Pierre about losing her sister Juanita Jones earlier this year.
Memphis Police arrested Jones’ husband Roy January 10th and charged him with murder.
“This man has been around since I was six years old,” Owens said. “And they had been married going on 13, 14 years. It’s been decades together and there has never been any issues.”
Owens said she never noticed any violent behavior between her sister and Jones.
She said losing her sister to gun violence is still hard to accept.
“We were just all together for the holidays, there were no issues or any thing that presented itself to us that would lead us to question her safety,” she said.
Another murder that caught people’s attention is the murder of Juanita Washington outside a local Walgreens.
According to Memphis Police, Gregory Morton is responsible for killing Washington in the parking lot of a Walgreens pharmacy in Cordova .
Washington was an administrator at LYE Dance Academy who mentored hundreds of children.
Clubb said violent acts like these are pushing the movement to do everything possible to keep women safe.
She said help is available, and there are resources women can use.
Resources can be found here on our Memphis Says No More website, and also on the Memphis Area Women’s Council website.