ROCKINGHAM — The staff and board of New Horizons Life and Family Services is working to “break the chains of silence on domestic violence.”
The organization was joined by a small crowd — including representatives from law enforcement and the court system —Tuesday evening for its annual domestic violence vigil at the old courthouse in downtown Rockingham.
New Horizons’ Teshika Gandy said during the opening of the event that domestic violence thrives in silence.
“Together, we are saying no more: no more silence, no more stigma, no more suffering in the shadows,” Gandy said. “We honor the survivors whose courage to speak out lights the way for others, we pause to remember the lives lost to domestic violence — each name is a reminder of why we must continue this work with urgency and compassion.”
Listed in the program were the names of the 54 people in North Carolina who have been killed so far this year in DV incidents. Four of those were children, the youngest being 6-year-old Mianna Roach in neighboring Anson County. The oldest victim was 79.
Statistics that a firearm was used in most of the homicides — many listed as a murder-suicide— though there are several cases involving a knife, blunt force trauma or a vehicle.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office had 182 domestic violence reports filed in the past year, from Oct. 21, 2024 to Oct. 21, 2025, and the Hamlet Police Department has investigated 63 DV cases since Jan. 1.
At 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, there were three individuals —including one woman — being held on domestic violence charges.
According to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation’s annual Domestic Violence Report, there were 155 victims of DV-related homicide in 2024 — a 14.8% increase from the previous year.
Mecklenburg County led the state with 12 such homicides, followed by Wake with 11 and Cumberland with nine. Three counties — Catawba, Robeson and Wilson — each had seven.
Breaking down the statistics by gender: 94 victims were female and 61 were male; 111 offenders were male and 44 were female.
The SBI notes that six of the victims had previously taken out protective orders and that three of those orders were active at the time of the homicide.
When it comes to the relationship between the offender and victim, the report shows that 16.8% of the homicides involved a current or former spouse.
The highest number of homicides (47.1%) occurred in relationships in which the pair was dating or had been dating.
Other relationship statistics:
(The report notes that pairings could fall under multiple relationship groups.)
There have been more than 100 DV-related homicides in the state each year since 2010. The previous peak was 148 in 2021.
Richmond County had five DV-related homicides from 2020-2024: two in 2020; one each in 2021, 2022 and 2024; and none in 2023.
“When we break the silence, we open the door to safety,” said Gandy. “We open the door to freedom, we open the door to hope. … May our voices be louder than the silence.”
(The RO may have more from the vigil in the near future. See photos from the event on the RO's Facebook page.)
