HOUSTON - Houston police officers spent Sunday afternoon investigating the murder/suicide of a woman and her husband. Wilson Bautista, police say, shot his wife, Jessica Morales, in the couple's apartment bathroom.
Morales' four children were in the apartment when it happened around 11:30 a.m. at an apartment complex off Corporate Drive in southwest Houston. Police said the deaths were linked to a domestic violence situation between the couple.
As he briefed the media, Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Bobby Dobbins spoke candidly, "This brings to light something that we’re consciously addressing right now, and that’s domestic violence in our city," said Dobbins. "It’s an epidemic proportion and we are doing initiatives to combat that because often times domestic violence leads to situations like this that are so tragic."
Asst. Chief Dobbins said HPD has made a list of the apartment complexes that have the most calls for domestic violence.
"So, we’ve reached out to the apartment managers, all of them are on board, and we’re getting literature out to them, so that they can get them out to their residents," said HPD Captain Mike Faulhaber.
"We’ve been working on violent crime, as everyone knows, and we’ve had some positive results on that," said Dobbins. "But you just don’t stop there, you go to the next. The next thing right now is domestic violence."
Officers who respond to domestic violence calls are now taking the temperature of the scene. "And that's a lethality risk assessment," said Faulhaber. The assessment rates the risk the offender poses to the victim and police.
"We have to think outside-of-the-box and become creative." said Faulhaber.
Houston police say they're rolling out the initiative starting May 1st, on the west side of town. The goal is for it to become a citywide effort, since it's a citywide problem.
The police department has applied for a grant that, if approved, will help with funding for things like overtime for officers.