As protesters demonstrated outside the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6, the board elected to fire Eddie Gonzalez, a school-safety officer who shot former LBUSD student Mona Rodriguez on Monday, Sept. 27.
Rodriguez died of her wounds on Tuesday, Oct. 5, after the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center took her off life support, according to family members’ public statements.
The 18-year-old mother had been shot near Millikan High School after engaging in an altercation with a student outside the school and being driven away in a car, according to media reports.
Around 60 protesters had gathered outside the board meeting to call for justice and reform following the shooting of 18-year-old Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez by School Safety Officer Eddie Gonzalez near Millikan High School on Sept. 27.
“I hope that my sister gets the justice that she deserves,” said Oscar Rodriguez, Manuela’s brother. “Because honestly this can happen to any other family next. And it’s the saddest thing ever.”
As protesters waited to give public comments during the LBUSD board meeting taking place inside, they learned via Twitter that their first demand had already been met—Gonzalez had been fired.
The board made its decision to fire Gonzalez in closed session before the public portion of the meeting.
Superintendent Jill Baker then explained the decision to demonstrators and media outside the meeting, saying the board’s review found that Gonzalez’s behavior did not meet the district’s “standards and expectations.”
Baker added that LBUSD policy prohibits officers from firing at a fleeing person, firing at a moving vehicle or firing through a vehicle window except as a “final means of defense.”
“We believe the decision to terminate this officer’s employment is warranted, justified and, quite frankly, the right thing to do,” she said.
Rodriguez’s family is calling for Gonzalez to be arrested.
“I just wanted everyone to take a look at [the Rodriguez family] to know and remember why you’re out here,” said LBUSD parent Jerlene Tatum. “These are real people. It’s not a picture on a flyer. It’s not a hashtag. It’s [a] real family.”
Community member Juan Mereles attended the Oct. 6 protest with friends after learning about the shooting last week.
“It’s a tragedy, a travesty and it’s horrible violence that got inflicted on a youth,” Mereles said. “There’s no reason that schools should have armed safety officers. There’s no reason that students, children, should go to school and fear that they might get shot and not live to see the next day.”
Police are investigating the incident as a homicide
On Thursday morning, the Long Beach Police Department said their investigation was classified as a homicide investigation because Rodriguez had been pronounced dead.
“In light of this news, detectives are now investigating this matter as a homicide,” police said in a statement.
A police spokesperson said no arrests have been made.
“The LBPD is conducting a criminal investigation of this incident and is sharing this information with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for their independent review,” the police statement said. “Homicide detectives are in regular communication with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and are providing evidence from the ongoing investigation to them for filing consideration.”
Long Beach police earlier said they went to the area near Millikan High School on Sept. 27 in response to a reported shooting, and officers found Rodriguez inside a car with at least one gunshot wound.
According to police, Gonzalez 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 firing at least two shots through a passenger-side window into the car.
Rodriguez, mother of a 5-month-old son, had been on life support since she was taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
According to family attorney Luis Carrillo, Rodriguez’s heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys were harvested Tuesday at the hospital.
Rodriguez stopped breathing at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday after her organs were removed, according to Carrillo.
Residents call on school district to remove armed safety officers
The Long Beach Police Department has not yet charged Gonzalez with a crime. Many public commenters during the board meeting called on the police to do so.
Other commenters said LBUSD should disarm its security officers before more students are harmed. Some said students of color are particularly vulnerable to potential violence by safety officers.
“This is a school, not a jail,” commenter Lilia Ocampo said through a translator of why officers should not carry weapons.
Instead of having officers carry weapons, school campuses should instead foster “safety, compassion and empathy,” commenter Ivan Garcia said.
Jane Gould, a reverend at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, questioned the board’s commitment to student wellbeing.
“Mona’s murder is not the result of one person who made a bad choice,” Gould said. “It resulted from institutional decisions that do not protect the safety of our students, create equity or enhance education. Why was school-safety officer Gonzalez armed in the first place?”
Former Long Beach City Council member Tonia Reyes Uranga expressed concern for current students, including those who witnessed the shooting who had to give statements and turn over cellphone video to the police.
“One student […] is still traumatized, now afraid of anyone in a uniform, especially after being questioned by men in uniform and seeing a woman being shot by one, afraid to once more stand alone at a bus stop, afraid to go to school,” Uranga told the board.
Board President Juan Benitez called on board members to extend the half-hour public comment period by an additional hour to allow more speakers to express their thoughts and feelings during the meeting.
“Our community has been shaken,” Benitez said. “It’s an important call to action for all of us to take this tragic, tragic incident and use it as an opportunity for us to be better and do better.”
The protest for Rodriguez inadvertently coincided with a protest against vaccine mandates also held outside the LBUSD headquarters at the same time.
This story was written by Anita W. Harris and Kristen Farrah Naeem. City News Service contributed to this report.
