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Left: Damen Carrillo (San Antonio Police Department). Right: Ghabriella Barrera (Selfie).
A Texas man killed his ex-girlfriend in retaliation for domestic violence charges she filed against him, police in the Lone Star State say.
Damen Carrillo, 26, stands accused of one count of murder in the first degree, according to Bexar County court records.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, on Feb. 15, Ghabriella Barrera, 24, was shot and killed while she was driving back from work on the southwest side of San Antonio.
Wanted and mysterious as police searched for clues, the suspect in the shooting remained at large for months — a state of affairs that changed this week with the ex-boyfriend’s arrest on Monday.
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The defendant allegedly threatened Barrera the night before she died, family members told police, according to an affidavit obtained by San Antonio-based CBS affiliate KENS and ABC affiliate KSAT.
Investigators say Carrillo threatened to kill the victim if she did not drop family violence charges she previously filed against him.
Those earlier charges date back to Nov. 15, 2024. On that day, the defendant was arrested for allegedly assaulting Barrera and later released on the condition he have no contact with her.
Fast-forward several months to the alleged Valentine’s Day threats.
While police would catch up on the alleged court order violation far too late, investigators determined Carrillo texted various threats to Barrera the day before she died, according to the affidavit. Those repeat threats allegedly became repeat shots — numerous bullet holes were discovered in her driver’s side door, law enforcement claim.
The defendant also allegedly contacted the victim on the day she died — using Facebook Messenger to complain about a video she posted which purported to show Carrillo threatening Barrera with a gun.
“You work today right?” the defendant allegedly asked in one message. “If the video don’t come down I’m pulling up.”
The victim was found after crashing near the railroad tracks along General Hudnell Drive South and Kirk Place. An autopsy determined Barrera died from multiple gunshot wounds.
“Nobody should die that way,” the victim’s grandmother later told KSAT. “She was taken away for reasons we don’t even know.”
Asked to describe the slain woman to those who did not know her, her grandmother said: “She was there to help as much as she could.”
A series of clues to led the defendant’s arrest.
Investigators said Barrera’s co-workers described seeing a suspicious black truck parked near the employee parking lot on the day she died. Then, surveillance footage would corroborate those claims, showing a black Ford F-150 parked near where the victim worked and later accelerating with haste as soon as Barrera left that day, according to the affidavit. A license plate reader later caught sight of the same truck driving; records showed the vehicle was registered to one of Carrillo’s family members — at the defendant’s home address.
The truck was later found and seized in the small town of Poteet, roughly 30 miles due south of the Alamo City. While effectuating a search warrant, police allegedly found several 9 mm shell casings inside the F-150 that matched shell casings found at the scene of the crime.
Cellphone records also showed Carrillo near the location where Barrera died at around the time of the shooting, police claim.
On Tuesday, the defendant was placed on full house arrest and ordered not to possess firearms by a Bexar County judge.
