In a year that seemed to be tarnished by catastrophic events worldwide, 2016 was also a year marked by the consistent domestic tragedy of gun violence. The Pulse nightclub massacre, the shooting of five Dallas police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest, and the deaths of several unarmed black men at the hands of the police are just several of the many instances of gun violence on record. According to the Gun Violence Archive, more than 383 mass-shooting incidents (an occurrence that the organization defines as when four or more people are killed or injured) and nearly 15,000 gun deaths occurred over the course of 2016 alone.

But among mass shootings in which four or more people, not including the gunman, were killed, there were many that seemed to fall under the radar—instances of gun violence that, as the Huffington Post reports, were perpetrated by domestic abusers and overwhelmingly affected women and children.

Last June Cynthia Villegas told family that after years of abuse she had asked her husband for a divorce. She informed a relative that if anything were to happen to her, her husband would likley be the perpetrator. Just days later she and her four daughters had all been shot and killed by her husband, Juan Villegas-Hernandez, inside of their New Mexico home.

After her husband brandished guns and threatened her and their children's lives numerous times, Las Vegas, Nevada, woman Phoukeo Dej-Oudom filed for divorce from her husband, Jason Dej-Oudom. She applied for a temporary protection order against him in June—a claim that was denied because, according to court documents, it did "not meet statutory requirements." A cosmetologist, Dej-Oudom then quit her job because she feared that her husband would stalk her. Just weeks later her husband shot and killed her outside of a Walgreens before gunning down their three children. Police report that he killed himself following the attack.

After his wife left him, Appling, Georgia, resident Wayne Hawes went on a shooting spree that specifically targeted his wife's family—including her 85-year-old mother, her 75-year-old uncle, and her 31-year-old niece—and two family friends. In a similar instance of violence, Shelton, Washington, man David Campbell shot and killed his wife, two adopted children, and a neighbor before taking his own life.

According to research conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization advocating for changes to gun laws, seven of the 16 mass shootings in 2016 that left four or more people dead—roughly 43 percent—involved a male shooter specifically targeting a family member or intimate partner. Eighty-one percent of the victims in these deadly shootings were women and children. As data collected by Everytown shows, the correlation only gets stronger when examining data over a longer term, and 57 percent of mass shootings over the past five years involved a gunman targeting family and intimate partners.

The risk of danger becomes more acute when women try to leave a violent relationship, and abusers, feeling a loss of control, are increasingly likely to take drastic action in an effort to assert control over their partner. Such was the case in four of the seven incidents from last year—women were attempting to leave abusive relationships before they and their children were fatally shot by their estranged partners.

What can be done to prevent such tragedies? Maureen Curtis, vice president for Safe Horizon’s criminal justice and court programs, told the Huffington Post that it starts with holding abusers accountable for their actions before its too late—whether it's through the criminal justice system or through friends and family speaking out. In 2016 President Obama issued a series of executive actions to help control gun violence and a Supreme Court ruling cemented a federal law that prohibits individuals convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms. Though these were both major steps in the right direction, there is still a greater need for awareness and action at the hands of individuals, communities, and legislators to recognize the severity and prevalence of domestic violence—and take necessary measures to prevent it from becoming deadly.

Related Stories:

"My Abusive Husband Tried to Kill Me and Our Daughter by Flying a Plane Into Our Home"

"We Have to Stop the Violence": How 8 Survivors of Mass Shootings Are Fighting to Make Everyone Safer

5 Mind-Boggling Stats About Guns and Violence Every Woman Needs to Know