School safety officer charged with murder in fatal shooting of 18-year-old mother
A former school safety officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of an 18-year-old woman near a Southern California high school last month, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Eddie Gonzalez, 51, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on one count of murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. Gonzalez could not be reached for comment and it wasn't immediately known if he has an attorney.
Manuela "Mona" Rodriguez, who had been declared brain dead after the Sept. 27 shooting, died Oct. 5 after she was removed from life support.
Rodriguez donated organs to five people, according to her family's attorney Luis Carillo. She "gave a heart, a liver, lungs, and two kidneys to save the lives of 5 people," Carillo said, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Rodriguez, the mother of a 5-month-old son, was shot in the back of the head in a parking lot near Millikan High School in Long Beach. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a car that was driving away after Rodriguez had gotten into a fight with a 15-year-old girl, police have said. Rodriguez was not a student at the school, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Video posted online appeared to show the safety officer firing at least two shots as the car moved off next to him. At least one bullet pierced a window of the car.
Gonzalez has been fired by the Long Beach Unified School District.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with Rodriguez's funeral costs and to care for her son.
