FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A Fruitport Township man is facing charges after police say he led a campaign of harassment and stalking against his ex-wife.
Investigators say 44-year-old Mitchell Pierce threatened to kill her on multiple occasions — and threatened a school shooting where her children attended.
Situations like this, the YWCA says, unfortunately happen far too often.
"It is very prevalent," says Chief Programming Officer Tom Cottrell with YWCA Grand Rapids.
While conversations about stalking often take place in the movies or on tv, it's a very real problem. About 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 men will experience being stalked in their lives.
"For some victims, it's a mere annoyance,” says Cottrell. “For others, it's terrifying."
It’s situations like what one Fruitport Township woman allegedly went through the past year with her ex-husband that fall in the latter category.
READ MORE: Fruitport Twp. man charged with stalking ex-wife, threatening violence
"The ongoing vigilance to survive is something that can be physically draining, emotionally draining," Cottrell explains.
Pierce was given a no-contact order against his wife after a July 2021 assault conviction.
But, according to court documents, he later texted her a photo of a gun, saying, ”I went and got these because I'm ready to start blowing people away.”
Meanwhile, an email sent on April 22, 2022 allegedly read in part: “You have betrayed me way more than I betrayed you … I was going to let you and the boys live if you called me and actually talk. Instead you wanted to play with me.”
"Oftentimes, victims are in survival mode and they stay quiet about the assault for fear of aggravating or exacerbating the behaviors of the assailant," Cottrell tells FOX 17.
But Pierce's ex-wife was alerting police as this was happening, as he allegedly proceeded to threaten to quote “commit a school shooting” at the school her kids attended.
"In that terrorized state, it is hard to problem solve,” says Cottrell. “It is hard to think things through."
On May 2, she called police in Muskegon Township, saying she was on Apple Avenue when she noticed Pierce driving behind her.
She pulled into a lot, and said that as Pierce got out of his Jeep and started coming towards her, she struck him with her car. Police would respond to the scene and find him hiding in the bathroom of a fast food restaurant.
"The laws about stalking are pretty clear in Michigan,” Cottrell affirms, “but how those are interpreted, how they're used in any given law enforcement jurisdiction or within any given judiciary or with a judge, all is very variable."
Pierce is now behind bars and awaiting trial, but not every victim has the cooperation of law enforcement.
The specialized team at the YWCA in Grand Rapids is here to assist in all scenarios of intimate partner violence or stalking.
"When that victim can talk to other people and inform other people, they are much more empowered to actually get the kind of results that they want," Cottrell adds.
The YWCA has a 24-hour confidential helpline that anyone can call at no cost to them. That number is 616-454-9922.
