News Update

Long Beach Unified reaches $13 million settlement with family of 18-year-old mother shot to death by school safety officer

The family of Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez, the 18-year-old mother who was killed in 2021 when a school safety officer opened fire on a car she was riding in, was awarded $13 million from the Long Beach Unified School District, NBC News reported.

Rodriguez’s brother, Omar Rodriguez, called the settlement “step one of accountability.”

“I’m really hoping that we get true justice,” he said. “My sister was robbed of that. We were robbed of our sister.”

School safety officer Eddie Gonzalez, 51, was patrolling near Long Beach’s Millikan High School on Sept. 27, 2021, when he noticed an altercation between Rodriguez and another teen girl. Footage of the incident showed Rodriguez getting into the rear passenger seat of a nearby car. While the car drove away, Gonzalez was seen firing his handgun at the car.

Rodriguez was struck and was taken to a hospital where she died about a week later. Gonzalez was promptly fired through a unanimous vote by the district’s school board, the Southern California News Group reported.

About a month later, The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Gonzalez with murder. He plead not guilty in December 2021 and is awaiting trial.