DENVER — Throughout the month of October, Denver7 is observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
We're also highlighting life-saving resources like the Rose Andom Center— a place for domestic violence victims to find the safety, support and services needed to rebuild their lives and heal their families. It is one of the many resources that have been made available for domestic violence victims in Denver in recent years.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock wishes that kind of support had been available for his sister, Karen West. Her life ended about two decades ago after she experienced domestic violence.
"She treated everyone as if she never met a stranger," Hancock said. "She was so vivacious. She made everyone feel comfortable in her presence. She used humor."
West was an older sister who felt more like a second mom to Hancock.
"She had just lost her husband," Hancock said. "He had died after a long battle of illness. She was the mother of two children — teenage children, who she was raising."
In 2002, Hancock said a high school friend helped West through her grief. He became a live-in boyfriend.
"I would learn later that she had just told him, 'you have to leave.' That, 'it’s over," he said. "And he chose that, you know? 'If I can't have you, no one will,' as we've heard before. And he took her life and then took his."
Hancock learned of his sister's fate after he got a call from another sister who said West never showed up to take her to work, as she did every morning.
The siblings found West and the boyfriend in her car on the side of a street in front of her mailbox.
"I rushed to the car," Hancock said. "I'm thinking, look around the car and there's no shattered glass. I can see a bullet exit out the roof of the car, but nothing, no holes in the door. And I'm thinking 'This dude shot my sister.' And, you know, to this day, I still think I heard her grunt, and I remember talking to her and asking her to stay with me. I tried to remove her out of the car. But, you know, she was stiff, as if she braced herself. She braced herself for the impact with the gunshot, and I couldn't move her."
Hancock later found out that West did tell a sibling about the boyfriend's questionable past behavior, but the sibling agreed to keep the problem a secret.
"We need to snitch," Hancock said. "This is a time to snitch. This is the time to open your mouth."
Hancock said after his sister's death, he learned of the lack of resources available to domestic violence victims. He joined with others to try to save lives.
"Through the generous support of not only the people of Denver but people like Rose Andom, we were able to establish that center in Denver — one of the few at the time in the nation — a one-stop shop for victims of domestic violence," he said.
Hancock believes West would have wanted to see that type of progress.
"She just taught me how to treat people and treat people with care and tenderness," he said. "And however they decided to treat her was never her worry. How she treated people was her concern."
The Rose Andom Center is hosting the "A Mile in My Shoes" walk on Monday, Oct. 3 beginning at 11:30 a.m. off Fox Street in Denver. The walk aims to share domestic violence information and resources and to honor the lives lost to domestic violence.
Donations can also be made directly to the Rose Andom Center.