As the car sped past him in a Long Beach parking lot, former school safety officer Eddie Gonzalez was either a dedicated public servant fearful of being run over by a fleeing suspect — or an assassin who made the wild, reckless decision to shoot into the back of a car full of young men who disobeyed him.
Those were the lines drawn by prosecutors and defense attorneys Thursday afternoon as opening arguments began in the guard's murder trial in the September 2021 killing of 18-year-old Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez, who was gunned down near Millikan High School when Gonzalez shot… Two bullets in the car she was traveling in.
The shooting sparked anger and protests. School officials moved quickly to expel Gonzalez, 54, and then-Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called for his prosecution. Los Angeles County District Atty. George Gascón obligated to file murder charges a month later.
“The only reason he fired his gun, the only reason Mona lost her life, is because three people disobeyed him,” the Los Angeles County deputy said. Atty. Christopher Guy said Thursday, stressing that Gonzalez was not in “any danger” when he opened fire that day.
Gonzalez was responding to a report of a fight between Rodriguez and a 15-year-old girl on Palo Verde Street near Millikan High School. Rodriguez was traveling with her boyfriend, Rafael Chowdhury, and his teenage brother when they discovered the other girl, who had recently gotten into a fight with one of Rodriguez's friends.
Chowdhury previously told police that he and Rodriguez were looking to buy shoes for their 5-month-old daughter, and that happened with the girl on the day of the fight. But at Gonzalez's preliminary hearing in 2022, a police officer testified that the group went out looking to assault her.
Oscar and Omar Rodriguez hold a photo of their murdered sister Mona and her mother at a press conference in 2023.
(J.L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
“This was not a fight,” defense attorney Michael Schwartz said Thursday, describing Rodriguez as a dangerous criminal suspect who Gonzalez should have stopped. “This was a planned beating.”
Gonzalez threatened to pepper-spray the two girls if they did not stop fighting. Rodriguez and her group returned to their car, but not before posing a threat against the 15-year-old's family, according to preliminary hearing testimony. Gonzalez followed her and ordered her to stop.
As the car drove off, Gonzalez screamed and opened fire. Rodriguez, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car, was shot in the head, police said. Chaudhry and his brother were not injured. Gonzalez previously told Long Beach police investigators that he was aiming for the driver but missed and struck Rodriguez.
Rodriguez suffered severe brain damage and was taken off life support after a week. Last year, the Long Beach Unified School District settled her family's wrongful death suit for $13 million.
Gonzalez claimed he acted in self-defense because the car could have hit him. But Jay argued Thursday that “the defendant responded to the youth's disobedience with deadly force.”
When his first witness took the stand late Thursday, Guy showed a cellphone video of the shooting. A woman could be heard screaming as the video showed Gonzalez firing two shots. Several of Rodriguez's relatives were seen walking away at the gallery, with one woman in tears.
Schwartz told jurors that while Rodriguez's death may have been a tragedy, it “was not a crime.”
The veteran defense attorney – who has worked defending police officers from prosecution in excessive force cases – noted that the car's tires were pointed at his client.
“He was right next to that car as it headed his way,” Schwartz said.
Many large police departments, including the Los Angeles Police Department, no longer allow officers to shoot at moving vehicles unless their occupants pose a threat beyond the vehicle itself.
While Jay described the fight between the girls as just schoolyard dust, Schwartz portrayed it as a planned attack. When Gonzalez opened fire, he was trying to stop serious crime suspects who were participating in an intentional assault, his attorney said.
Schwartz said he plans to call three witnesses who will testify that Gonzalez was in the path of the car when he opened fire. Jay's first witness, a high school student who filmed the shooting, said Gonzalez fired his second shot while he was behind the car.
The trial is expected to last about a week.
In a series of letters sent to the court asking for Gonzalez's bail to be reduced earlier in the trial, relatives described him as a dedicated, hard-working family man who repaired cables for decades before pursuing his dream of becoming a businessman. Law enforcement officer.
His daughter, Yasmine, wrote: “On September 27, 2021 – my father went to work, as he had done for decades, to support his family.” “He is not a malicious or vindictive person and I hope that through this trial you and the jury of his peers will be able to see that that is clearly the case.”
Gonzalez was an Orange County reserve sheriff's deputy from 2015 to 2018, according to the letters, and relatives claim he once held the title of “reserve district attorney.” A spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Gonzalez's law enforcement career took a downward turn in the years leading up to the shooting as he moved between jobs. He worked for the Los Alamitos Police Department from January to April 2019, according to city officials, who declined to provide details about his departure.
A few months later, he joined the Sierra Madre Police Department in September 2019, but left again after less than a year on the job, according to a police spokeswoman, who said the city “has chosen to part ways with Officer Gonzalez” but did not provide details. .
Police officers' disciplinary records are largely shielded from public view under California law, unless the officer uses deadly force or is accused of sexual misconduct or dishonesty while on duty.
