Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation for domestic homicide.
The shelter run by Domestic Violence Intervention Services is filled with people running from domestic violence and turn to the courts for protection. The man killed by police in Bartlesville Wednesday night had a protective order filed against him, but it didn't stop him.
DVIS says about 50 crisis calls come through their hotline daily, all pertaining to some sort of violence. The numbers are staggering with domestic violence impacting more than 9,500 in Tulsa every year.
Donna Mathews would say even one is too many.
"We've been one of the highest states for single incidents with women killed by men in the United States," she said.
More than 200 people file a protective order every month.
"That's from all of Tulsa County," Domestic Violence Intervention Services Associate Director Donna Mathews said. "So that's 2,400 so far this year about the same time last year they had about 2,000."
A woman in Bartlesville had a protective order, but that didn't stop William Cole from barging into her houseWednesday night.
"I worked on getting the locks changed and I thought everything was alright," the victim's landlord Loren Rovenstine said.
The victim's landlord tried to help, but the victim couldn't bolt the door before Cole arrived.
"This was surreal, just unbelievable but we're going to make it," Rovenstine said.
When police arrived, they said Cole had tackled his ex-girlfriend to the ground. When he assaulted an officer, police used a Taser. It didn't work. An officer then used his gun to stop Cole.
"I know who saved her life, the eyes of all of us," Rovenstine said. "God really cares."
Court records indicate Cole was abusive and threatened to kill the victim. A protective order is just a piece of paper and may not always stop the perpetrator, but in some cases it could save a life.
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