PPO = Piece Of Paper Only

A PPO from a court, while a good first step in protection from a known threat is only a very flimsy piece of paper.

They generally do not dissuade folks with a known history of violence and familiarity with being on the convict side of the criminal justice system.

The Detroit Free Press: Police: Man shoots 2 women before suicide in Detroit domestic violence

One good first step to extending your life is don't associate with known violent felons. A good second step is do not procreate with them.

A 37-year-old man allegedly [allegedly? Really Freep?] shot his ex-girlfriend, fatally shot her female friend, then killed himself Monday morning at a home on Detroit's west side, police said.

The man forced his way into the 26-year-old friend's home on Wreford near Linwood, where the 28-year-old ex-girlfriend was staying with two children, a newborn and an 11-year-old girl, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said on Facebook Live.

"As soon as he made entry into this location, he began firing shots, striking the girlfriend. She was hit three times," he said. "She was able to exit the location with another child, the 11-year-old."

The 9-day-old baby girl, whose parents are the shooter and ex-girlfriend, suffered hypothermia as people kept opening doors to the residence, Craig said. The 11-year-old girl, who is the suspected shooter's daughter, was not injured.

That's a rather weird way of saying that both kids were the progeny of the criminal but one was not a child of the ex-girlfriend.

Said criminal who did the world a favor by taking himself put of it, sadly only after killing someone else had a rather solid criminal history:

shooter's criminal history involves weapons, narcotics and assault with attempt to murder.

Of course the ex-girlfriend and apparently mother of at least one of the kids had a PPO but strangely didn't contact police after he violated it the day prior to the shooting:

The ex-girlfriend had an active personal protection order against the suspected shooter. He has a violent history, but when he visited the home and caused a disturbance on Sunday, nobody called police, Craig said. The ex-girlfriend was hospitalized and is expected to recover.

PPOs while of very limited protection offer no protection at all when a violation of them is ignored bu the person who got the PPO issued in the first place. Perhaps he would have been arrested for the violation and the subsequent shooting would never have happened, perhaps not but we certainly won't know.

The main purpose of a PPO is to get it documented into the system that you have a justifiable belief that the recipient of the PPO is going to do you harm. This will certainly help you later should the person violate it and you need to protect yourself either depending on the nature of the situation via police, the courts, or self-help.