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 initially been charged with murder in the shooting on Sept. 27, 2021, that killed Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez, who was the mother of a 5-month-old baby at the time.
The case sparked outrage in the community and played out in court but ended in mistrial this year.
Gonzalez pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of voluntary manslaughter in a plea agreement, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.
Under the agreement, he will be sentenced Oct. 8 to either a lower term of three years or a mid-term of six years in prison, the DA's office said.
His attorney did not immediately respond to a request 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 an altercation between Rodriguez and a 15-year-old girl unfolding in the street, Long Beach police said at the time.
Police said Rodriguez initiated the assault. When Rodriguez tried to flee in a sedan, Gonzalez approached the vehicle to prevent her from fleeing and opened fire, police said. She was struck and died from her injuries a week later, on Oct. 6.
The school district fired Gonzalez later in the day. It said its use of force policy states officers should not fire at a fleeing person, at a moving vehicle or through a vehicle window unless circumstances warrant it. Rodriguez was unarmed.
He was charged with murder on Oct. 27 that year, and he 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 on April 16 this year after jurors were deadlocked 7-5, with the majority favoring convicting Gonzalez of second-degree murder and five others 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."