By Khalida Sarwari
A coalition of Santa Clara County agencies will offer a community workshop today to highlight the issue of domestic violence following the murder-suicide in March of six family members in Santa Clara County.
In that incident, reported on March 29 at a town home at 4350 Headen Way, 42-year-old Devan Kalathat is believed to have shot and critically injured his wife, and killed their 4-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son. Kalathat also allegedly killed three of his wife’s relatives, before killing himself, according to Santa Clara police Lt. Phil Cooke.
“These recent tragedies and events are a wake-up call that we need to be vigilant,” Liz Kniss, president of the Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. “If someone is experiencing physical abuse, they need to know enough about the services and resources in our community, so they can connect them with the help they need to end the violence.”
Santa Clara County’s Domestic Violence Information and Resource Collaborative is offering the “Domestic Violence Information and Resource Workshop” to provide the community with information about what domestic violence is, how to report it, how the legal process works and where to get help.
The workshop is open to the public and will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the rotunda at San Jose City Hall, located at 200 E. Santa Clara St. Representatives from more than 30 agencies will share resources and take applications for assistance.
The event was organized with the help of San Jose State University and sponsored by Kniss. The County Of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy coordinated the collaborative, in partnership with the Superior Court, the offices of the district attorney and the public defender, county departments, law enforcement and local community based organizations.