A Timeline of Events That Led to Gabriella Gonzalez’s Murder After Her Abortion

Gabriella Gonzalez had filed a report against her ex-boyfriend, Harold Thompson, two months before she was murdered.

On May 10 after 7:30 AM, Thompson shot Gonzalez near a gas station in Dallas, Texas. According to NBC reports, she had just returned from Colorado after getting an abortion.

Court records show Gonzalez and Thompson were in a “dating relationship.” Her family explained to NBC that she had recently cut it off after four months. Police believe Gonzalez was pregnant with Thompson’s child and he did not want her to get an abortion.

According to investigators, this may have led him to attack her in a Dallas gas station, ending in Gonzalez’s untimely death. Since the event, Thompson was arrested and charged with murder.

However, Gonzalez’s case is another grim reminder of how gender-based violence continues to plague Latinas and the possible effects of the Texas abortion ban.

Gonzalez’s family members say she was “scared”

According to the Independent, Gonzalez filed a report against Thompson in March. In the report, she described how he choked her, also threatening her and her three children.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old woman’s mother Mireya Vasquez told NBC, “I looked at her beaten, he no longer let her talk to anyone, he took everything from her.”

“He took her phone, he managed everything for her. She was scared,” she added.

Gonzalez told police about Thompson’s physical abuse, saying he had “beat her up multiple times” and that she was “scared” of him. However, Thompson was only charged for assault, not arrested.

The woman’s family claims they followed up with Dallas police about the report but did not hear back.

NPR reports that the March affidavit simply refers to Gonzalez as “the victim,” saying Thompson had beat her, strangled her and given her a black eye.

Additionally, the warrant states that she was pregnant with his child and that she said Thompson “violently attacked her.” It also explains that her kids are “from a different relationship.” Stating, “Suspect is very jealous of the complainant’s ex-boyfriend.”

Gonzalez’s sister Mileny Rubio remembers, “I knew she wasn’t OK but we couldn’t help, we didn’t know how.” She also told the outlet, “He was so angry that she wanted to get away from him. She would always tell me that she wanted to leave, but that she couldn’t.“

Gonzalez’s family claims her abortion could have been Thompson’s motive for the murder

Surveillance footage shows Thompson and Gonzalez arguing near a Dallas gas station on May 10 after 7:30 AM. At that point, the 22-year-old man placed his ex-girlfriend in a “chokehold,” with police describing how she “[shrugged] him off.”

Moments after, Thompson allegedly shot Gonzalez in the head. After she collapsed, he shot her several more times before fleeing the scene.

Gonzalez’s sister, Rubio, witnessed her murder while driving near the gas station. She told NBC, “I heard gunshots and immediately knew it was her.”

She saw her sister “on the floor,” recalling, “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.”

Meanwhile, the family believes Thompson killed Gonzalez out of “revenge” for having an abortion.

Vasquez described to Telemundo that Gabriella was “the soul of the house. She always started to dance… She was a happy woman, I loved having my daughter with me. My three daughters… my three princesses.”

She also recalled how Thompson “didn’t allow [Gonzalez] to speak to family” and even controlled her Instagram. In tears, the mother now hopes her daughter gets “the justice” she deserves.

Gonzalez’s sister recently set up a GoFundMe page for her funeral expenses. She wrote, “[Gonzalez] was a mother of two girls and one boy. To everyone who’s prayed for her and our family we truly appreciate you. This has been a very unexpected loss.”

Many are pointing to Texas’s anti-abortion laws after the murder

Texas banned abortions after six weeks gestation in 2021, essentially outlawing all abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

As per the ACLU, Texas has now banned abortion at “all stages of pregnancy without exceptions for rape or incest,” unless a physician determines that person’s “life is in danger.”

Now, many people are tying Gonzalez’s murder to Texas’s ban. Mostly because she could not get a safe abortion in her home state. The 26-year-old woman was forced to travel to Colorado for an abortion and successfully distance herself from her abuser. While it is unknown how her ex-boyfriend found out about the abortion, having the option in her home state may have changed everything.

Additionally, many say the Texas abortion ban only adds more weight to misogyny, the belief women should not have control over their own bodies.

As one Twitter user put it, “[Gonzalez’s] murder is especially egregious and tied indirectly to the anti-abortion laws in Texas. How many more women will be killed for exercising choice?”

Another wrote, “The brutal murder of Gabriella Gonzalez, at the hands of her partner, for getting an abortion, should shake everyone to their core.”