Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez.Photo: GoFundMe
Mona Rodriguez, 18, was struck in the back of the head while she was in a car driving away from Millikan High School in Long Beach, Calif. The school safety officer who shot her has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
Cellphone video appears to show the officer fire two shots at the car as it speeds away from the parking lot, nearly hitting him.
Rodriguez was the only person injured in the shooting. She was rushed to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty
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According to theLong Beach Post, Rodriguez' family says that she is brain dead and not expected to survive her injuries. The family says that the hospital has told them that they will remove her from life support — a decision they disagree with.
“Honestly I don’t feel that that’s right because if a government official is the one that shot my sister then the government should not be the one that’s deciding whether they should pull the plug or not,” her brother, Oscar Rodriguez, told thePost. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
The family has retained an attorney who is asking that the Los Angeles County District Attorney and the State Attorney General criminally prosecute the officer who opened fire.
“The priority right now is to have him arrested,” attorney Luis Carillo told thePost. “We have a murderer on the streets and he has no business having a gun and a badge.”
Jill Baker, superintendent of Long Beach Public Schools, told KTLA that the district’s safety officers are “highly trained and held accountable to the established standards in their profession.” She told the station that the district will investigate what happened.
source: people.com
