Domestic Violence Suspect Stabbed to Death by Victim’s Sister & Mother: Cops

A mother and sister are credited for saving the life of their respective daughter and sister after her estranged boyfriend broke into a California home where his girlfriend was and attacked her.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on November 28, they responded to a domestic violence call at around 10 a.m. Saturday morning. When they arrived at the South Pasadena home they heard women screaming and found a broken window.

Deputies went into the home through the broken window, according to a press release, and once inside they found a “white male suspect in his 40s stabbed and beaten.”

South Pasadena Fire Department and efforts were made to render aid to the man, but he died at the scene, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office.

The coroner identified the man as 40-year-old Justin Goss, NBC Los Angeles Reported.

Police Say the Girlfriend’s Mother & Sister Beat Goss With a Golf Club & Stabbed Him as He Punched and Choked Her

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release, “While the suspect was in the process of beating and choking the female victim, her mother and adult sister came to her aid. During the struggle, the suspect was stabbed and beaten with a golf club.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Barry Hall told the L.A. Times, “They tried to pull him off, and it didn’t work; he was too strong, so they had to resort to using weapons.”

The woman who was attacked, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital for facial injuries she endured during the attack, but she has been released per the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

The Mother & Sister Will Not Be Charged for Goss’s Death

GettyYouths work on a mural against violence toward women in Ankara on March 7, 2015, on the eve of International Women’s Day.

According to the L.A. Times, Hall said the women who intervened in the attack will not be charged for killing Goss.

“They were well within their right to act in defense of their sister and daughter,” Hall said.

The case is unusual in that it is rare for family members to be responsible for the death of a relative’s domestic abuser, while it is more common for the abuser to cause the death of their intimate partner.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “Among male homicide victims in 2007, 16% were murdered by a family member or intimate partner. Of male homicide victims, 2% were killed by a spouse or ex-spouse and 3% were killed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. Over half (54%) were killed by others they knew, and 29% were killed by strangers.”

Compare that to the agency’s findings that say:

Females made up 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner in 2007, a proportion that has changed very little since 1993. Females were killed by intimate partners at twice the rate of males. In 2007 the rate of intimate partner homicide for females was 1.07 per 100,000 female residents compared to 0.47 per 100,000 male residents…

In 64% of female homicide cases in 2007, females were killed by a family member or intimate partner. In 2007, 24% of female homicide victims were killed by a spouse or ex-spouse; 21% were killed by a boyfriend or girlfriend; and 19% by another family member.

READ NEXT: Mom’s New Boyfriend Nearly Beats 9-Year-Old to Death: Police