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Abstract
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On March 25, 2020, in Cambridge, United Kingdom, a 71-year-old man stabbed his 71-year-old wife before suffocating himself to death. The couple was reportedly anxious about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown measures and were on the verge of running out of food and medicine. (1)
One week later, in Chicago, Illinois, a 54-year-old man shot and killed his female partner, age 54, before killing himself. The couple was tested for COVID-19 2 days earlier and the man believed they had contracted the virus; however, the test results for both of them had come back negative. (2)
Intimate partner homicide-suicide is the most dramatic domestic abuse outcome. (3) Homicide-suicide is defined as "homicide committed by a person who subsequently commits suicide within one week of the homicide. In most cases the subsequent suicide occurs within a 24-hour period." (4) Approximately one-quarter of all homicide-suicides are committed by persons age [greater than or equal to]55 years. (5-6) We believe that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of homicide-suicide among older adults may be increased due to several factors, including...
To better characterize the perpetrators of older adult homicide-suicide, we conducted a literature search of relevant terms. We identified 9 original research publications that examined homicide-suicide in older adults...
Language: en |