MPR News with Angela Davis

What Burnsville tells us about domestic violence and the legal system in Minnesota

A clotheline
The Clothesline Project is an annual visual memorial to the past year's victims of intimate partner violence made by Violence Free Minnesota, a coalition of organizations working to end domestic violence. The coalition says in 2023, 39 Minnesotans were killed by intimate partner violence.
Peter Cox

Last month, a shootout in Burnsville took the lives of three first responders.

It all stemmed from a 911 call reporting domestic abuse. Suspect Shannon Gooden, who later died by suicide, had previously been accused of intimate partner violence by at least three different women.

Three guests in the domestic violence space joined MPR News guest host Catharine Richert — not to talk about Gooden’s case specifically, but how it highlights the complexities of domestic violence cases.

Richert and her guests talked about why a restraining order, or even the death of an abuser, doesn’t mean the violence or the trauma is over.

They also discussed challenges in the legal system that sometimes allow kids to remain with abusive parents, and how the court system can sometimes work against victims of domestic violence.

And they heard from survivors of abuse about how the system failed them, time and time again.

Guests:  

Three women pose to get their portrait taken
Sharon Jones, executive director for legal assistance of Dakota County, Stacie Burke, domestic and sexual violence advocate at 360 communities and Meggie Royer, youth and prevention program manager with Violence Free Minnesota pose to get their portrait taken in the Kling Public Media Center in St. Paul on Thursday, March 28, 2024.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News