BATON ROUGE - There's a disturbing trend of violence in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Three shootings just this week could be part of the growing number of domestic violence cases.

"Last night we had three that have not yet been classified completely, but we're surely looking at those," said District Attorney, Hillar Moore.

Friday, deputies say 18 year-old Joseph Chambers is facing murder charges for shooting his mother's boyfriend after a fight. It happened around midnight on Vancouver Drive.

In another case, police found a woman shot by her boyfriend in East Baton Rouge Parish. Her body washed ashore Thursday along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish.

In a the third incident, a man was shot and killed at an apartment along Bob Petit Boulevard Thursday.

Prosecutors suspect each case may be tied to domestic violence.

"We're only in March, and we have a long way to go. This is something that's surely unique and different for us right now," said Moore.

In all of last year, there were 19 domestic violence killings in the parish. Just three months into 2021, and there have been 11.

District Attorney Hillar Moore says out of those, four involved the victims protecting themselves.

"A lot of these cases so far have been justified homicides. In cases here in Baton Rouge, women have killed someone who was attacking them. Folks have a right to defend themselves. That's something that we've seen this year early on," said Moore.

Prosecutors say its important to seek help if something isn't right.

There are programs like the Iris Domestic Violence Center that act as a safe house for those in abusive relationships.