LUMBERTON — She stared down the barrel of a freshly fired gun after telling her abusive husband she was leaving.

After four years of abuse, enough was enough.

The mother of three didn’t know she would find herself in a an hours-long negotiation over the lives of her children, herself and the man with the gun.

“He was threatening to kill us and then himself. All I remember thinking was ‘Lord, please don’t let me die at his hands.’” said the mother, who wished to be identified as Ava. “No one believes that there are individuals out there who want to hurt you because they can’t have you. It’s an obsession. An obsession with criminal intent.”

Ava shared her story on Thursday with a reporter during an event to honor 35 years of a local agency who came to her rescue.

She remembered bullets ripping through the walls and ceiling of her Robeson County home as her husband was determined to keep her from leaving. But Ava calmed him after a night of exhausting and terrifying conversation and fled the home with her children,who were then 9, 7 and 4 years old.

When she return to the home with her brother to get some things for her and her children, she remembers passing her husband on the road.

“I’m gonna catch you,” he mouthed.

Ava then found out about the Southeastern Family Violence Center, which held an open house on Thursday to celebrate its 35th birthday.

“They put me up in the shelter with my children,” she said. “But he found out where we were. I told the supervisor at the time and they did not stop. They did not drop a beat. We were relocated to Hamlet within hours. They wanted to make sure me and my kids were safe.”

Ava and her children made another move to Virginia and returned to Robeson County in 2006 — eight years after the incident with her then-husband — when her grandmother died.

Now, according to Ava, she and her ex-husband have a friendly relationship. After he was charged with crimes for abusing his wife, he received counseling and they were able mend their relationship. Ava has remarried and is now an advocate for people suffering domestic abuse.

During Thursday’s open house, community members, staff and local officials toured the center’s offices at 900 N. Chestnut St. in Lumberton. Candace Harke, the vice president of the Southeastern Family Violence Center board, said that the center served 1,734people in the Robeson County area during 2015 and had provided a safe shelter to 137 adults and 165 children that year.

Since January, the center has added services for Latina victims, community education programs and transitional housing programs.

In attendance at the meeting was Kim Pevia, the Southeastern Family Violence Center’s board president, and Jerry Stephens, chairman of the Robeson County Board of Commissioners.

Stephens presented Emily Locklear, the center’s executive director, and the staff of Southeastern Family Violence Center with a proclamation honoring their work.

“I see or hear about domestic violence every day,” said Rudy Locklear, a Robeson County magistrate. “I hope community members will continue to support this organization because it is very much needed in Robeson County.”

From 2008 to 2015, there were 20 domestic violence-related homicides in Robeson County, according to the Department of Justice.

Emily Locklear said that nationwide one in four women and one in seven men will fall victim to domestic violence during their lifetime.

“It’s good that we’ve stood for 35 years, but it’s not because we should have told everyone about domestic violence and eradicated it and worked ourselves out of a job,” she said. “But we solicit support from the community because, without the community, we can’t keep our doors open.”

To support the Southeastern Violence Center and to help families in situations of domestic violence like Ava, community members can purchase tickets to the Art to End Hurt art show on April 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Carolina Civic Center.

Local artists will display and sell their art and a portion of the sales will go to Southeastern Family Violence Center. Tickets are available at the center for $30 a piece or $50 per couple. For information, call 910-739-8622 or visit SoutheasternFamilyViolenceCenter.com.