Yesterday morning 45-year-old Radcliffe Haughton allegedly gunned down seven women at the salon where his estranged wife worked, killing three of them, including his wife, Zina Houghton, before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. Although the details of the case are still coming to light, it is clear that this was not the first instance of violence in their relationship, which has been clearly documented in the past weeks with court orders and police reports.
On October 4th Houghton was arrested for allegedly slashing his wife’s tires outside of the same salon, and on Thursday she successfully acquired a four-year restraining order against him. He was also ordered to turn over all of his weapons to the sheriff’s department.
As Feministing points out, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has collected statistics that illustrate the deadly combination of domestic violence and easy access to guns in the lives of women. In fact, “women are more than twice as likely to be shot to death by their male intimates as they are to be shot, stabbed, strangled or killed in any other way by a stranger.”
Media Resources: ABC News 10/21/12, 10/22/12; CNN 10/22/12; NY Times 10/21/12; Feministing 10/22/12
