Trial begins for ex-LBUSD safety officer accused in teen's killing
A defense attorney for Eddie Gonzalez, the accused former safety officer for Long Beach Unified, said the shooting was an act of self-defense; prosecutors argue Manuela "Mona" Rodriguez posed no danger. Eddie Gonzalez, former Long Beach Unified School District safety officer, has been charged with murder in relation to the death of 18-year-old Manuela "Mona" Rodriguez. The prosecutor claims that Gonzalez fatally shot Rodriguez despite the car posing no threat to his life. Gonzalez was fired by the school district a week after the shooting and has claimed self-defense. His defense attorney, Michael Schwartz, claims that the shooting was self-defence and that no crime was committed. Testimony began late Thursday and is set to resume Monday.
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A prosecutor told jurors today that a former Long Beach Unified School District safety officer fired upon a car and fatally wounded an 18-year-old woman despite the vehicle posing no danger to his own life.
Meanwhile a defense attorney for Eddie Gonzalez, the accused former safety officer for Long Beach Unified, countered that the shooting was an act of self-defense and that no crime was committed.
Gonzalez has been charged with murder in connection to the death of Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez, who was shot in the head as she sat inside a moving car on Sept. 27, 2021. Gonzalez was fired by the school district about a week after the shooting.
In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Kristopher Gay told the Long Beach jury that Gonzalez “fatally and unjustifiably shot” Rodriguez.
The prosecutor said the now-54-year-old defendant “responded to youthful disobedience with deadly force” after breaking up a fight between Rodriguez and a female Millikan High School student near Spring Street and Palo Verde Avenue, about a block from the high school.
Gonzalez tried to stop the Infiniti containing Rodriguez, her boyfriend and his teenage brother from leaving the scene, slapped the hood of the vehicle and yelled at the car’s occupants, who disobeyed his commands, according to the prosecutor.
The former school safety officer was “not done trying to stop that car” as it was being driven away from him, and raised up his firearm and fired two rounds from behind the car, the deputy district attorney told jurors.
One of the shots struck the young woman in the back of the head, who “tragically succumbed to her injuries days later” after never regaining consciousness, Gay said.
“The evidence will show that he was never in any life-threatening danger,” the prosecutor said, saying he was in no danger at the time he fired the shots.
The prosecutor noted that jurors will see three videos, including a surveillance video and two videos filmed by bystanders.
“We all agree a tragedy occurred,” defense attorney Michael Schwartz told the panel. “The difference is it’s not a crime.”
Gonzalez’s attorney told jurors that the vehicle’s tires squealed before any shot was fired and that the evidence will show that his client was much closer to the vehicle than what the prosecution had alleged. He said his client had less than two seconds to assess whether he was about to be run over, how to get out of the way and stop the threat.
“Less than two seconds — that’s what this case is about,” Schwartz told the jury.
The defense lawyer said his client had come upon what he called a “planned beat-down” of the Millikan student and was told by the teenage girl that her phone had been stolen and that her family had been threatened with death.
Gonzalez’s attorney told jurors that they will hear from the teenage girl and two other witnesses who believed that the vehicle was headed toward Gonzalez before the shooting.
“They will not prove that it wasn’t self-defense because itdefinitely was,” Schwartz said.
Testimony began late Thursday and is set to resume Monday.