A California school police officer who shot and killed a teenage mother was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released because he had already served his time in custody.
Eddie Gonzalez, 54, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Aug. 20, after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge in his trial for the Sept. 27, 2021, shooting in Long Beach, which It was captured on video.
The now-former Long Beach Unified School District security officer shot and killed then-18-year-old Manuela ‘Mona’ Rodriguez while she was in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle a block from Millikan High School.
Driven by her boyfriend Rafeul Chowdhury, her car fled the scene of a fight with a 15-year-old girl that Gonzalez had been present to deal with.
Rodríguez died days later after being declared brain dead and taken off life support. About a month later, González was charged with murder. This charge was dismissed Tuesday as a result of his plea.
Manuela ‘Mona’ Rodríguez (pictured with her son Isael), then 18 years old, was shot and killed by González while she was in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle fleeing a fight one block from the high school Millikan in Long Beach, California.
Eddie González (pictured right), the former school police officer who shot and killed a teenage mother, was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released because he already spent time in custody.
Gonzalez cried in court when the verdict was read and walked out surrounded by family and friends after the sentencing.
Rodríguez’s heartbroken mother, Manuela Sahagún, said she felt like she was “not getting justice” and feared “it could happen to another family,” according to ABC7.
Speaking through a Spanish translator in court, he made an emotional statement saying his pain “will never go away.”
Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s brother Oscar said he felt “disgusted,” “sad” and “heartbroken” by his sister’s murder.
He added that his own “dream of becoming an officer is crushed.”
“Losing my sister the way I lost her has been horrible,” he told the judge. ‘I just want justice for my sister. I miss my sister every day.’
Rodriguez’s boyfriend, Chowdhury, who was driving the car the day she was shot, said he came to court to “get justice for my baby’s mother.”
He added that González had “shot the person who was going to be my future wife.”
Gonzalez (center in photo) cried in court when the verdict was read and walked out surrounded by family and friends after the sentencing.
The moment a school safety officer shot a teenage mother in the back of the head was captured on cellphone video and posted on social media.
The 18-year-old was left brain dead after a school security officer shot her in the back of the head while trying to flee a fight.
Mona died after doctors took the 18-year-old mother off life support.
Gonzalez’s friend Randy George defended him in court, saying he “just wanted to help people” in his law enforcement role.
“This man was devastated when he found out what happened,” George said in an emotional statement. ‘This man has been through hell. He doesn’t deserve this.’
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard M. Goul said Gonzalez “did not conduct” the tragic incident.
Goul said Gonzalez intervened to stop an attack on a high school student and was “doing his job” when he tried to stop Rodriguez’s vehicle.
On the day of the shooting, Rodriguez was in the passenger seat and her boyfriend Chowdhury, then 20 years old, was driving.
His younger brother, Shahriear Chowdhury, 16, was also in the vehicle when Gonzalez opened fire but no one else was injured.
Rafuel told police that no one in the car was armed at the time of the fatal shooting and told reporters that “it was all for no reason.” His son Isael was then five months old.
Rodriguez was reportedly not enrolled in high school at the time of the argument.
In September 2019, González (right) accepted another job as a police officer in the city of Sierra Madre in Los Angeles County, which ended in July 2020. A spokesperson for the department said they “chose to part ways” with him, but that they wouldn’t do it. Don’t comment anymore
Mona Rodriguez (pictured) was declared brain dead after the Sept. 27 shooting and died after she was taken off life support, her family said.
A video of the shooting was posted online that appears to show the security officer breaking up a fight between Rodriguez and another girl.
When Rodríguez got into the car with her boyfriend and began to drive away, González fired at least two shots. At least one bullet went through a car window.
After the mother’s sudden death, her heart, liver, lungs and two kidneys were removed to be donated to five people in need of transplants, according to a statement from Rodriguez’s attorneys.
The city of Los Alamitos confirmed that González worked for the department from January 8, 2019 to April 8, 2019.
Video footage showed Gonzalez being sworn in in February 2019 as a new police officer by Los Alamitos Police Chief Eric Nunez.
In his introduction, Núñez said González was born in Los Angeles and served in the Marine Corps.
In September 2019, he accepted another job as a police officer in the city of Sierra Madre in Los Angeles County, which ended in July 2020.