Mona Rodriguez, the woman who was fatally shot by a Long Beach Unified School District safety officer, donated organs that her family’s lawyer said today will save the lives of five people.
Rodriguez donated her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys, according to family attorney Luis Carrillo. Her organs were harvested Tuesday at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where she has been since the Sept. 27 shooting.
Doctors and nurses at the hospital gave Rodriguez a hero’s celebration in the hallways as she was taken to the operating room while her favorite song, “Letter To My Son,” by Skeezy played, Carrillo said in a statement.
Rodriguez stopped breathing at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday after her organs were removed, according to Carrillo.
The 18-year-old mother was shot Sept. 27 in the area of Spring Street and Palo Verde Avenue, near Millikan High School in Long Beach.
Long Beach police said they responded to the scene in response to a reported shooting, and officers found Rodriguez inside a car with at least one gunshot wound.
The Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office have been investigating the shooting. The school safety officer who fired the shots, Eddie Gonzalez, was placed on leave.
Rodriguez, who leaves a 5-month-old son, was on life support since she arrived at the hospital. Relatives said she was shot in the head.
According to police, Gonzalez’s was driving in the area near Millikan High School when he observed Rodriguez involved in an altercation with a 15-year-old girl in the street. Investigators determined that a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were also involved in the dispute.
When Rodriguez, the man and the boy attempted to leave the scene in a vehicle, the school safety officer approached the car and fired into the vehicle as the driver was pulling away, striking Rodriguez inside, police said.
Video of the shooting posted online appeared to show the officer, whose name was not released by police, firing at least two shots through a passenger-side window into the car.
Rodriguez’s family members and her boyfriend have repeatedly asked for the arrest and prosecution of the safety officer.
A GoFundMe page has been established by the family to assist with funeral costs. The page states that Rodriguez is survived by her mother, four brothers and a sister.
Local organization Move Long Beach Forward will hold a demonstration on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the Long Beach Unified School District board meeting today, Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. to call on the district to fire officer Eddie Gonzalez and to remove all school safety officers.
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