GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Two deaths in two weeks. Domestic disputes spiraled out of control at the Timbers Motel and a home on Texas Avenue. One of the incidents raises a big question, how do you know if you should step in to help?

Domestic disputes can get heated and tempers can flare out of control. Officials say the worst thing you can do is be in the line of fire.

"The complicated thing with domestic violent situations is that they're always based on emotions," says Sgt. Jim Creasy of the Grand Junction Police Department.

Creasy says at both the Timbers Motel and the home on Texas Avenue, anger was quickly re-directed at others.

"And so when emotions are higher then the anger gets higher and the responses to you that's really an uninvolved party can be even worse because they'll deflect the anger that they're holding for the other person towards you," he says.

Which can switch your status from hero to victim.

"Unless it comes down to you having to protect yourself, one of your loved ones or your property, there's really no reason for you to jump out and get in the middle of something like that," says Creasy.

Jackie Sievers, director of the Latimer House, says there are other ways to help.

First, educate yourself about domestic violence. Listen to the victim and learn about the situation at hand. Remember to be a friend and don't blame the victim.

"Often whomever is being victimized has been told over and over that they're bad, they're stupid, things like that, so it's important to be supportive," says Sievers.

From 2008 to 2009, the Latimer House saw a 40 percent increase in the number of crisis intervention calls. Sievers says in Mesa County, hundreds of domestic violence cases every year end up in some sort of injury.

"If you're in a situation of domestic violence, it's important to plan and have a safety plan for getting out of the situation," says Sievers.

If you find yourself in a violent relationship, the Latimer House says to set some money aside, ID cards, anything you would need overnight. And when you have the chance, get out, call the police or the Latimer House's crisis line.

Both the Grand Junction Police Department and the Latimer House say in the case that you witness a domestic dispute, call 911, because it could turn dangerous.

And police say the best way to help is to be an informed witness.