A former California school resource officer has been charged with murdering a teenager who was attempting to flee a fight.
Eddie Gonzalez was employed with the Long Beach Unified School District as a school safety officer when trying to break up a fight with 18-year-old Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez and a 15-year-old girl near Millikan High School in Long Beach on September 27th. After the altercation, Rodriguez got into the passenger seat of a vehicle that was leaving the scene. Gonzalez fired a gun at the car, hitting the young woman in the back of the head.
The bullet left Rodriguez brain dead, and she was taken off life support on October 5th. She leaves behind a six-month-old son. Gonzalez was fired from LBUSD the day after Rodriguez passed away. On Wednesday, he was arrested and charged with her murder. He is being held in Long Beach jail on a $2 million bond.
Rodriguez’s brother Oscar voiced his frustration with the slow progress of Gonzalez’s arrest.
“About time. It shouldn’t have taken a whole month,” Oscar said during a press conference.