Violence Free Minnesota Adds Jerry Skluzacek to ‘We Remember’ Memorial – West Central Tribune

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on Friday, Jerome “Jerry” Skluzacek, 55, of New London, was memorialized as the 14th confirmed victim of a domestic violence homicide in Minnesota in 2024.

Without violence

We remember

is a memorial to victims of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota. Every victim is someone’s child, parent, sibling, family member, intimate partner, friend, neighbor, or co-worker.

A New London man was shot during an attempted carjacking Tuesday afternoon on the 71/23 Bypass southeast of Willmar. He was allegedly shot by 25-year-old Amir Musa Matarieh of Minneapolis, who is charged with second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and fleeing from police.

Matarie allegedly fled the scene of a domestic assault call in Minneapolis earlier, leading multi-county officers on a chase west to Kandiyohi County, where he is also accused of earlier shooting a Lake Lilian man who survived being wounded.

According to the Violence Free Minnesota We Remember memorial, Matarie shot his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend from a balcony early Tuesday afternoon as they tried to take some of her belongings. They were not injured by the shelling.

Matarie is the father of his ex-girlfriend’s child. At some point, Matarije left the apartment and fled the scene in a car, as the negotiators contacted him by phone.

“Jerry … is survived by his fiancee and at least two children,” his We Remember memorial said. Jerry was described as someone who was ‘always ready to help people’, had a good sense of humor and could ‘fix anything’. »

Founded in 1978, Violence Free Minnesota, formerly known as the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, is a statewide coalition of more than 90 member programs working to end relationship violence. A few years ago, it changed its name to better reflect its ultimate goal of living in a non-violent state.

The organization’s mission is to end abusive relationships, create safety and achieve social justice for all.

For more than 30 years, Violence Free Minnesota has collected information about victims of relationship violence who have died in its annual

Homicide report.

The report was previously known as the Femicide Report.

The We Remember memorial is updated each time the organization is notified of someone’s death due to dating violence in Minnesota.

Domestic violence statistics

The killing of Jerry Skluzacek demonstrates the wide-ranging effects of domestic violence by striking a bystander nearly 100 miles away from the scene of the domestic violence incident.

From 2013 to 2023, there were 56 bystander or bystander deaths in Minnesota, 44 of which were due to firearms, according to Violence Free Minnesota.

“We are collecting this data not only to provide a window into the scale of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota, emphasizing that this is a public health issue, not a private one, but also to highlight the very real dangers of the combination of firearms and domestic violence.” violence,” the organization notes in its 2023 Homicide Report. “When abusive partners have access to firearms, not only the victims/victims are at risk, but also their family members, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and even total strangers.”

At least 11 bystanders or bystanders died as a result of domestic violence in 2023, according to the 2023 Homicide Report.

There are various risk factors for death from intimate partner violence, including the victim’s attempts to leave the abuser, previous threats to kill the victim, the abuser’s access to a firearm, the abuser’s history of violence, and the victim’s strangulation.

“We cannot emphasize enough that the presence of these risk factors, even alone, indicates that a victim/survivor may be at increased risk for homicide,” Violence Free Minnesota said in its 2023 homicide report. “Every single system they come into contact with must always take victims/victims seriously. These killings are preventable.”

According to Violence Free Minnesota, relationship violence is rooted in power, control and oppression. Relationship abuse refers to the desire to control one’s partner and the fulfillment of that desire through emotionally, sexually, financially, and/or physically abusive patterns of behavior.

According to Violence Free Minnesota, abusers use a variety of tactics to maintain control, including verbal abuse/humiliation, economic abuse, possessive behavior, threats, isolation, gaslighting, and sexual abuse.

Non-physical abuse and coercive control can be just as extreme as physical abuse, and the absence of known physical abuse does not make an abusive relationship any less dangerous. Some abusers escalate to non-physical forms of violence before killing their partners, even without a history of physical violence.

Safe Avenues in Willmar provides advocacy services for victims of domestic and sexual violence in seven counties in southwest Minnesota. To contact Safe Avenues toll-free, call 800-792-4210.

Contact information for Safe Avenues offices is as follows:

Kandiohi County – 320-235-0962
Swift County Public Affairs Office – 320-314-8500
McLeod County Office – 320-587-7981
Renville County Public Affairs Office – 320-522-0011
Meeker County Public Affairs Office – 320-593-0876
Chippewa County Office – 320-321-1199
Lac qui Parle County Public Affairs Office – 320-698-9277

The statewide First Day Hotline can also help find the nearest available shelter by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.