EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH - Two deadly shootings tied to domestic violence across the capital region took place over the weekend. In Baker, a double-shooting left one woman dead and her boyfriend, the alleged shooter, in critical condition. And in Central, deputies say 54-year-old Paul Varnado shot and killed 54-year-old Alanna Singleton in her home before killing himself.

"We have seen some escalation in that type of situation, especially here lately, and it's just absolutely horrifying," Patti Freeman, the Executive Director of Iris Domestic Violence Center, said.

On June 24, deputies arrested Varnado for domestic abuse battery. Investigators say he threw Singleton down a flight of stairs during a fight, leaving her bleeding and severely bruised. A day later, Singleton filed a protective order, ordering him not to go within 100 yards of her.

"Love doesn't hurt love. Love doesn't hit love, doesn't push love, doesn't demand. And if it begins doing any of those things, you need to understand that you should be asking the question. And when the questions are manipulated, and they try to deter you from having the open conversation, it's time to cut the rope," Freeman said.

District Attorney Hillar Moore says in the Varnado and Singleton case, Singleton asked him to dismiss the charges against him. 

"Despite the allegations that were made against her and the injuries that she had for particular reasons, and again, that is typical of what we see over and over again as unfortunate. I feel sorry for all of the families that are involved in this case," Moore said.

Freeman says requests like those can be manipulative behavior.

"A person can allow themselves to be drawn back into it very easily, and so I think that's the reason again that you reach out for additional resources and services, other than just going to get the protective order," Freeman said. 

Moore says so far this year, they are seeing more cases like these.

"This is the most that we've seen since the COVID years, I believe," he said. "32 domestic-violence related homicides, and I believe that eight of those 32 were murder suicides. This year, we're at three and possibly four murder-suicides."

Freeman urges that if you or anyone you know who may be experiencing domestic abuse to reach out to IRIS or any other services.