Thirteen people died in domestic violence cases in Santa Clara County in 2024, more than three times the 2023 total and the highest count since 2017, when the county also recorded 13, according to a county review team's annual report going before a Board of Supervisors committee on Tuesday.
The Domestic Violence Death Review Team, a group of prosecutors, police, probation officers, advocates and other professionals that examines every such death in the county, found the 13 deaths came from eight separate incidents. In 2023 there were four. The District Attorney's Office is scheduled to present the report at the 10 a.m. meeting of the board's Public Safety and Justice Committee.
The county averaged 12 domestic violence deaths a year from 1993 through 2009 and about eight a year since 2010, the report says. The worst years on record were 1997 and 2003, with 21 deaths each.
Who died
The team counts everyone killed because of domestic violence, not only partners. Its 2024 tally includes:
- eight people killed by an abuser, among them three children, a friend who went with a victim to collect her belongings and the boyfriend of a victim's sister;
- three abusers who took their own lives after a killing;
- one abuser killed by his partner in self-defense; and
- one abuser shot by police as he moved on a victim and child with a gun.
Six of the deaths involved firearms. All eight people the team identified as perpetrators were men, and eight of the deaths happened in a home the victim and abuser shared. The report lists San Jose police for eight of the deaths and police in Milpitas, Campbell and Santa Clara for one each.
Seven of the 13 people who died were Asian. The team wrote that Asian residents show up far less often in criminal cases where the victim survives, which it said points to heavy underreporting and a need for wider outreach.
Warning signs the team flagged
Three of the deaths came in cases that already had family court involvement and restraining orders, according to the report. Several happened while a couple was separating or had just split up, which the team called one of the most dangerous periods for a victim.