Violence Free Minnesota adds Jerry Skluzacek to We Remember monument - West Central Tribune

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on Friday, Jerome “Jerry” Skluzacek, 55, of New London, was remembered as Minnesota’s 14th confirmed domestic violence-related homicide victim of 2024.

Violence-free

We remember

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

The New London man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon during an attempted carjacking on the Highway 71/23 Bypass southeast of Willmar. He was allegedly shot by Ameer Musa Matariyeh, 25, of Minneapolis, who is charged with second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and fleeing police.

Matariyeh previously allegedly fled the scene of a domestic attack in Minneapolis, leading officers from multiple counties on a chase west into Kandiyohi County, where he is also accused of previously shooting a Lake Lillian man who survived his wounding.

According to the Violence Free Minnesota We Remember memorial, Matariyeh fired gunshots from a balcony Tuesday afternoon at his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend, who were there trying to retrieve some of her belongings. They were not hit by the gunfire.

Matariyeh is the father of his ex-girlfriend’s child. At one point, Matariyeh left the apartment and fled the scene by car, while crisis negotiators reached him by phone.

“Jerry … leaves behind a fiancée and at least two children,” his We Remember memorial reads. “Jerry was described as someone who was ‘always willing to help people,’ had a good sense of humor and ‘could fix just about anything.’ ”

Violence Free Minnesota, formerly known as the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, was founded in 1978 and is a coalition of more than 90 affiliated programs committed to ending relationship abuse. It changed its name several years ago to better reflect its ultimate goal of living in a violence-free state.

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

For more than thirty years, Violence Free Minnesota has collected information about victims who died as a result of relationship violence in its annual event

Murder report.

The report was previously called the Femicide Report.

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

Domestic violence statistics

The murder of Jerry Skluzacek demonstrates the widespread impact of domestic violence, with a bystander nearly 100 miles away from where a domestic violence-related incident began.

According to Violence Free Minnesota, between 2013 and 2023, there were 56 deaths of bystanders or intermediaries in Minnesota, 44 of which were caused by firearms.

“We collect this data not only to understand the scope of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota, emphasizing that it is a public health issue and not an individual concern, but to highlight the tremendous danger posed by firearms and domestic violence in combination. says the organization in its 2023 Homicide Report. “When violent partners have access to firearms, not only are the victims/survivors at risk, but also their family members, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and even complete strangers.”

According to the Homicide Report 2023, at least eleven bystanders or intermediaries died as a result of domestic violence in 2023.

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

“We cannot emphasize enough that the presence of these risk factors, even just one of them, indicates that a victim/survivor is at increased risk for homicide,” Violence Free Minnesota said in the 2023 Homicide Report. “Victims/Survivors must always be taken seriously by any system they come into contact with. These murders are preventable.”

According to Violence Free Minnesota, relationship abuse is, at its core, rooted in power, control and oppression. Relationship abuse is about the desire to control the partner and to achieve that desire through emotional, sexual, financial and/or physical abuse.

Those who abuse use a variety of tactics to maintain control, including name-calling/belittlement, economic abuse, possessiveness, threats, isolation, gaslighting and sexual violence, according to Violence Free Minnesota.

Non-physical abuse and coercive control can be just as extreme as physical violence, and the lack of known physical violence does not make abusive relationships any less dangerous. Some abusers gradually escalate non-physical forms of abuse 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 a seven-county area of southwestern Minnesota. To reach Safe Avenues toll-free, call 800-792-4210.

Contact details for Safe Avenues office locations are as follows:

Kandiyohi Province — 320-235-0962
Swift County Outreach Office – 320-314-8500
McLeod County Outreach Office – 320-587-7981
Renville County Outreach Office – 320-522-0011
Meeker County Outreach Office – 320-593-0876
Chippewa County Outreach Office – 320-321-1199
Lac qui Parle County Outreach Office – 320-698-9277

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