A Texas woman was fatally shot by her boyfriend after getting an abortion against his wishes, police say.
Harold Thompson, 22, was jailed on a murder charge on Wednesday after his deadly confrontation with 26-year-old Gabriella Gonzalez in a Dallas parking lot.
Surveillance video allegedly shows Mr Thompson attempting to put Gonzalez in a chokehold before she “shrugs him off” and the couple continue walking, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Mr Thompson then pulls out a gun and shoots Gonzalez in the head. After she falls to the ground, Mr Thompson shoots her multiple times and then runs away, the affidavit states.
The night before, Gonzalez had returned from a trip to Colorado to get an abortion.
“It is believed that the suspect was the father of the child,” the affidavit said. “The suspect did not want (Gonzalez) to get an abortion.”
Texas banned abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021. But nearly all abortions have been halted in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, except in cases of medical emergency.
Mr Thompson was arrested hours after the shooting. He is being held at Dallas County Jail without bond and court records do not list an attorney for him.
Gonzalez’s sister Mileny Rubio was at the scene and heard the shooting.
“I heard gunshots and immediately knew it was her and when I looked back, it was her. She was on the floor,” Ms Rubio told NBC5. “I was in shock. I couldn’t touch her. I couldn’t move. My body froze. I just called my mom and I couldn’t even explain to her.”
Another witness said she saw Mr Thompson trying to choke Gonzalez but couldn’t call police because she did not have her cell phone.
Ms Rubio alleged that the family knew Mr Thompson was abusive toward Gonzalez and that the couple recently ended a four-month relationship.
“I knew she wasn’t OK but we couldn’t help, we didn’t know how,” Ms Rubio said.
Prior to the shooting, Mr Thompson was facing charges for assaulting a family member who accused him of choking her in March.
The affidavit from that arrest does not specifically name Gonzalez as the person who was assaulted. However, it states that the victim told police that Mr Thompson “beat her up multiple times throughout the entirety of their relationship” and that Mr Thompson told police the woman was pregnant with his child at that time.
The woman “reiterated that she is scared of the suspect because he had made threats to harm her family and her children,” according to the affidavit.
Gonzalez’s mother confirmed that the family filed the March report and said Dallas Police never followed up with them.
“I looked at her beaten, he no longer let her talk to anyone, he took everything from her,” the mother told NBC5 in Spanish. “He took his phone, he managed everything for her. She was scared.”
Associated Press contributed to this report
