LOS ANGELES
A Long Beach Unified School safety officer was charged today with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old, according to state prosecutors.
“We must hold accountable the people we have placed in positions of trust to protect us,” District Attorney George Gascón said. “That is especially true for the armed personnel we traditionally have relied upon to guard our children on their way to and from and at school.”
Eddie Gonzalez, 51, was charged with one count of murder.
On September 27, Gonzalez was patrolling an area near Millikan High School in Long Beach when he noticed an altercation between 18-year-old Manuela Rodriguez and a teenage girl.
Rodriguez got into the rear passenger seat of a nearby car. Gonzalez allegedly fired his handgun at the vehicle, striking Rodriguez.
She was taken to a hospital where she died approximately a week later.
The case remains under investigation by the Long Beach Police Department.