An 18-year-old mother in Long Beach, California, who was shot by a school resource officer following a fight Monday, is now brain dead, according to her family.
Mona Rodriquez is The Victim
The victim, Mona Rodriquez, was one of the women spotted by a Long Beach Unified School District officer. During the Monday incident, Rodriguez and another woman were fighting in a parking lot near a Southern California high school when the safety officer pulled his car into the lot to see what was going on.
However, when the safety officer got out of his vehicle, the people believed to be involved in the fighting fled the scene in a sedan. As the vehicle took off, the safety officer began shooting. He fired his gun twice towards the vehicle, and Rodriguez got hit in the back of her head.
Rodriguez was a mother to a five-month-old boy, and the Long Beach Medical Center recommended that she be taken off from life support by Thursday afternoon, The Washington Post reported.
Rodriguez’s brother, Oscar, said they should decide whether to stop the life support as a family. He said, “They’re trying to take my sister away. At first, they told me that I would be able to make the decision, and now they’re taking that away from me.”
Family, Friends Calling For Justice
Rodriguez’s family attorney Michael Carrillo said: “The officer took it upon himself to whip out his gun and start shooting at a moving vehicle. There’s absolutely no justification for what he did.”
The police have not named the officer, but spokesperson Chris Eftychiou with the Long Beach Unified School District said that the officer is now on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
Rafeul Chowdhury, Rodriguez’s boyfriend and the father of her five-month-old son said, “I just want him in jail, bro. I want him in jail for what he did to my girlfriend. She did not deserve it. I don’t know what to do with my five-month-old son.” Chowdhury was the one driving the vehicle during the shooting. The family is pushing for criminal charges against the safety officer.
A GoFundMe page for Rodriguez’s family has been launched to help them with the funeral and legal expenses. Aside from her son, she is survived by her mother, four brothers, and a sister.
