Listen to this article

On Wednesday, a Southern California school resource officer was arrested and charged with the murder of an 18-year-old mother who was shot near a high school in an incident that was captured on video. 51-years old Eddie F. Gonzalez remains in custody on a $2 million bond for the 27^th September death of Manuela (Mona) Rodriguez. Los Angeles County District attorney George Gascon announced the charges during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles. He said, “It’s an unfortunate, unnecessary death that left a 6-month-old without a mother, a family without a daughter, and clearly a tremendous loss to our entire community”. Point to be noted that Gonzalez was a school resource officer with the Long Beach Unified School District when he opened fire on a vehicle with Rodriguez inside near Millikan High School.

Gonzalez said that he was trying to break up a fight between Rodriguez and a 15-year-old girl when Rodriguez attempted to flee with her boyfriend, police said. The authorities said she initiated the fight with the girl, whom she knew. Rodriguez was struck in the head as the vehicle was leaving the scene when Gonzalez allegedly fatally shot her. Her family said that she was taken off life support on 5^th October. Her organs were donated and saved the lives of 5 people. In a video of the incident, 2 gunshots are heard as the vehicle Rodriguez is in tries to leave the area after the fight. Rodriguez’s oldest brother, Iran Rodriguez said, “My sister was a part of me, and he took that part of me”.

Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna said the much-publicized shooting impacted the community. He said, “So this is just a step in trying to bring some closure to this very unfortunate and impactful incident, not only to our city but to the family, the Rodriguez family”. It is noteworthy that Gonzalez was fired days after the shooting. Superintendent Jill Baker earlier said that a review of the shooting confirmed that Gonzalez had violated the school district’s policy. She said, “The use-of-force policy used by our school safety office states officers shall not fire at a fleeing person, shall not fire at a moving vehicle, and shall not fire through a vehicle window unless circumstances clearly warrant the use of a firearm as a final means of defense”.