When the car sped past him in a Long Beach parking lot, former school safety officer Eddie Gonzalez was either a dedicated public servant in fear he would be run over by a fleeing suspect — or a killer who made a wild and reckless decision to shoot into the back of a car full of youths who disobeyed him.
Those were the lines prosecutors and a defense attorney drew 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 shot dead near Millikan High School when Gonzalez fired two bullets into a vehicle she was riding in. The shooting sparked outrage and protests. School officials quickly moved to fire Gonzalez, 54, and then-Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called for him to be prosecuted. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón obliged, filing murder charges a month later. 'The only reason he fired his gun, the only reason Mona lost her life, was because three people disobeyed him,' L.A