PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Twenty-seven year old Jessica Ortega apparently had reason to fear her children would be left to fend for themselves without her.
On Friday morning, she came to the Pierce County Courthouse to file a protection order against 41-year-old Marcos Perea. She said he held her at gunpoint, threatening for 45 minutes to kill her.
In seeking the protection order, she wrote: "I feel bad for him because I know he has a psychological problem. It is very evident by the other night but I have to make sure I am safe because I have two children of my own."
Moreover, she said, she wanted Perea, a convicted felon, stripped of his firearms. "He had a gun pointed at my head telling me it was my time to die."
But less than 24 hours later, Perea showed up as Ortega was arriving to her job as a licensed practical nurse at the University Place Care Center.
"When he arrived he contacted her," said Pierce County Sheriff's Sgt. Ed Troyer, "And shot her multiple times. And unfortunately she died from those wounds."
"Domestic violence homicides and access to firearms are really inextricably linked," said Karin White, deputy director of the Pierce County YWCA.
White said Ortega's case shows the need for the help organizations like hers can provide.
"We do have many great policies and practices in place to help survivors of domestic violence," White said. "Unfortunately, they're not enforced with the same level in all jurisdictions and in all ways. So that is a great reason to talk to people in the field to see what those options might be, if people are in that situation."
Perea was later killed in a shootout with police on I-5 in Lakewood.
To learn more about violence prevention in Washington State and Pierce County, follow this link.
Follow this link to access Ortega's GoFundMe page, which has raised over $1,900, as of Feb. 21, 2016.
Cox Media Group
