California school resource officer pleads no contest in 2021 fatal shooting of 18-year-old

A former California school safety officer who fatally shot an 18-year-old girl near a Long Beach high school in 2021 has pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors announced Tuesday. 

Eddie Gonzalez had been initially charged with murder in the September 27, 2021 shooting that killed Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez, who was a mother to a 5-month-old baby at the time. 

The case sparked outrage in the community and played out in court but ended in mistrial earlier this year.

Gonzalez pleaded no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter in a plea agreement, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

Under the agreement, he’ll be sentenced Oct. 8 to either a low-term of three years or a mid-term of six years in prison, the DA’s office said. 

NBC News has reached out to his attorney for comment on the plea deal.

In the incident Gonzalez, who was employed by the Long Beach Unified School District, was driving a school safety vehicle near Millikan High School when he saw a physical altercation between Rodriguez and a 15-year-old female unfolding in the street, Long Beach police said at the time.

Police said that Rodriguez had initiated the assault. When Rodriguez attempted to flee in a sedan, Gonzalez approached the vehicle to prevent her from fleeing and opened fire, Long Beach police said. She was struck and died from her injuries a week later on Oct. 6. 

Gonzalez was terminated from the school district that same day. The district said its use of force policy states officers should not fire at a fleeing person, nor at a moving vehicle nor through a vehicle window unless circumstances warrant so. Rodriguez was unarmed in the ordeal. 

He was subsequently charged with murder on Oct. 27 that year, and pleaded not guilty in December 2021. His attorney had argued that Gonzalez feared for his life and acted in self defense, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The case resulted in a mistrial in April this year after jurors were deadlocked 7-5, with majority favoring convicting Gonzalez of second-degree murder and five opting for voluntary manslaughter and acquittal on the more serious offense of second-degree murder, NBC Los Angeles reported.

In April 2023, Rodriguez’s family was awarded a $13 million settlement from the Long Beach Unified School District in connection with her death. The district said the agreement was “no admission of liability on the district’s part.”

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