California Teen Mom, With Five-Month Old Son, Is Brain Dead After Being Shot in the Head by School Safety Officer

A California teen mom was left brain dead and placed on life support after a school safety officer shot her in the back of her head.

Mona Rodriguez, 18, was reportedly shot on Monday afternoon as she drove away from the scene near Millikan High School in Long Beach. The California teen mom has a five-month-old son.

People reported that the school safety officer has been placed on administrative leave while the tragic incident is being investigated.

California Teen Mom Got Into Fight With Fellow Teen

On the day she was shot, police said Mona Rodriguez got involved in a fight with a 15-year-old girl. A witness said the fight broke out when the California teen mom got out of a car by a nearby shopping center and confronted the younger girl, the Daily Beast reported.

While driving in the area, the unnamed safety officer from the Long Beach Unified School District happened to see the physical dispute between Rodriguez and the girl who was walking from the school.

The officer then threatened to use pepper spray on the two teenagers, who immediately stopped fighting and walked away. However, things took a sudden turn when the California teen mom got back in the car with her 16-year-old brother and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Rafeul Chowdhury.

A video seemed to show the school safety officer firing two shots at the car that nearly hit him as the vehicle began to speed away from the parking lot.

Police said Rodriguez was sitting in the front passenger seat. The California teen mom, who was the only person injured in the shooting, was rushed to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Hospital Tried to Remove Life Support of the California Teen

Reports revealed that Mona Rodriguez is brain dead and is not expected to survive from her injuries. The family said the hospital told them they would remove the life support, but the family disagreed.

"They're trying to take my sister away... At first, they had told me that I would be able to make the decision, and now they're taking that from me," said Oscar Rodriguez, the California teen's brother.

The brother further noted that he thinks it's not right that they are not the ones who will decide "whether they should pull the plug or not."

Mona Rodriguez's cousin Alex Cervantes said his cousin might have done something she was not supposed to do, but he noted that Rodriguez was unarmed.

California Teen Mom Dubbed as Suspect by the Police

Despite being brain dead and on life support, the Long Beach Police Department still labeled the California teen mom as a suspect, arguing that Mona Rodriguez initiated the assault.

Police also believed that the teenagers knew each other. However, Rodriguez's attorney Luis Carillo, said the priority should be arresting the school safety officer.

"We have a murderer on the streets and he has no business having a gun and a badge," Carillo noted.

Long Beach Public Schools superintendent Jill Baker told KTLA that the district's safety officers were "highly trained and held accountable to the established standards in their profession."

Baker also said the district would investigate the incident. The safety officer involved has already been placed on leave.

Meanwhile, civil rights activist Najee Ali noted that the only way to stop officers from shooting unarmed people is to hold them accountable for what they did wrong in the community.

He added that there's "no excuse, no justification" for the school safety officer who shot Rodriguez since she and the others inside the car were unarmed.

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Written by: Joshua Summers

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