SAN ANTONIO — October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A recent report released by the Texas Council on Family Violence shows, in 2020, 228 Texans were killed by someone who claimed to love them. According to the figures, that's a 23-percent increase from the year before.
Marta Peláez is the President and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services and is on the board of the Texas Council on Family Violence. She said the COVID-19 pandemic did not help victims of domestic violence.
"What happened to victims of domestic violence is they were more isolated in the company of their abuser with their children," she said. It was an opportunity to exacerbate every feature of domestic violence, emotional, physical, psychological, financial."
In San Antonio and Bexar County, one in three women will be affected by domestic violence. Peláez said education is the best strategy to save lives.
"Above all education," she said. "Education engages everyone in the community to understand what domestic violence is, what it does to victims and ultimately what it does to the community."
There's a march of solidarity happening for victims on October 16. The 9th Annual Purple Run will be taking place, for more information click here.