Annual Domestic Violence Breakfast & Briefing to feature survivor April Ross

WHAT: 13th Annual Domestic Violence Breakfast & Briefing featuring domestic violence survivor April Ross. The event is presented each October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month) by the Hall County Task Force Against Domestic Violence. We are honored to have Ms. Ross share her powerful story (more background below). We also will present the “Domestic Violence Officer of the Year” award. In addition this year, we’ll have an “after chat” panel discussion immediately following the program to include Ross, Jessica Butler, Gateway Domestic Violence Center executive director, Stephanie Woodard, Hall County Solicitor General, Julie Battle, chair of Brenau University’s psychology department, and Jennifer Thomas, Georgia Commission on Family Violence executive director.

WHEN:  Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017

Breakfast, 7:45 a.m.

Briefing, 8:00 a.m.

After chat, 9:30 a.m.

WHERE:  Brenau Downtown Center theater, 301 Main St. NW, Gainesville, GA 30501

COST: Free, but seating is limited. Sponsored by Gateway Domestic Violence Center, Hall County Solicitor’s Office, Brenau University Department of Psychology and McDonald’s.

BACKGROUND:  In 2014 April Ross was a promising young prosecutor with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, working high profile cases like the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case, when she was shot multiple times by her estranged husband, who later killed himself. Suddenly an attorney who prosecuted domestic violence cases became a victim of that same violent crime. Left paralyzed from the waist down by the shooting, Ross underwent multiple surgeries and spent three months undergoing intensive rehabilitation at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center before being discharged to continue recovery at home. A year and half after the shooting, Ross returned to her job with the Fulton County DA, where her main assignment is with the trial unit for domestic violence cases.