Teen mom, 18, is taken off life support and dies a week after being shot by school safety officer as she drove away from fight
The teenage mother from California who was left brain dead after being shot in the back of the head by a school safety officer has been taken off life support, the family said.
Mona Rodriguez died after her body was prepared to donate her organs. She donated a heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys, which will save the lives of five people, the family released in a statement.
She had been on life support since September 27.
Rodriguez, who has a five-month-old son, was shot as she drove away from the scene where she had earlier gotten into a fight with a 15-year-old girl near Millikan High School in Long Beach on Monday.
The family of the 18-year-old addressed the media at a news conference outside the hospital on Friday afternoon.
Mona's brother, Iran Rodriguez, said his sister would have wanted her organs to go to others in need.
Mona Rodriguez, a teenage mother, has been taken off life support, the family said
The 18-year-old was left brain dead after being shot in the back of the head by a school safety officer as she tried to flee a fight
Mona's family confirmed that she would be taken off life support at a news conference on Friday
A GoFundMe page created to raise funds to cover legal fees and funeral cost says that 'anyone who knew her knew how big her heart was, how full of life she was and how much she loved her family but most especially her son who was her entire life, pride and joy'
'The transition has begun,' Jerlene Tatum, a community activist who has been helping the family through the tragedy, told The Daily Beast.
Mona was struck by a bullet while leaving the school in a car with the father of her child, Rafeul Chowdhury, 20, and his 16-year-old brother. None of the people in the car are enrolled at Millikan High School.
Iran recalled to ABC 7 that the surgeons told him the bullet that struck Rodriguez was a 'hollow-type point bullet.'
'On impact, it exploded inside her brain and shards of metal bounced inside her head,' he told ABC 7.
Chowdhury and his younger brother, Shahreaf, are currently being investigated for their alleged involvement in the fight, police told KTLA.
Harrowing video shows the moment the officer, who has not been named, fires two shots at the car, which nearly hits him as it speeds out of the parking lot.
Chowdhury was driving the vehicle.
Long Beach Police are investigating the officer's use of lethal force. The school safety officer, who has not been named, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
'This school safety officer decided he was going to be the judge, jury and the executioner," Omar Rodriguez, her brother, told ABC 7.
Superintendent Jill Baker told KTLA that safety officers are 'highly trained and held accountable to the established standards in their profession.'
Long Beach Police are investigating the officer's use of legal force and the school safety officer, who has not been named, has been placed on leave. )Pictured: Millikan High School where the shooting took place)
The moment a teenage mother was shot in the back of the head by a school safety officer, leaving her brain dead, has been captured by cell phone video
Mona's family arrived at the press conference outside Long Beach Memorial Care Hospital in California on Friday
Manuela Sahagun, mother of Mona Rodriguez, center, hugs family members during a press conference on Friday
Manuela Sahagun, left, mother of Mona Rodriguez, is hugged by Oscar Rodriguez, brother of Mona Rodriguez, after a press conference at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Oscar Rodriguez, Mona's brother, spoke at a candle lit vigil outside of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center as the family fought to keep her on life support
Rodriguez's relatives gathered outside Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night after learning that doctors planned to take the gravely injured woman off life support, reported ABC7.
'They're trying to take my sister away,' Oscar Rodriguez, Mona's brother, said on Wednesday as the family fought with the hospital. 'At first they had told me that I would be able to make the decision, and now they're taking that from me.'
Alex Cervantes, Mona's cousin, told reporters she did not deserve to get shot.
'She might have been doing something she wasn't supposed to, but she was unarmed,' he said.
Luis Carrillo, a family attorney, called on prosecutors to bring charges against the officer who shot Rodriguez.
'This officer should be in jail right now,' he said at the vigil. 'The mother is suffering, every family member and friend is suffering.'
Carrillo sent a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday insisting that the office open an investigation into the shooting. Carillo claims that the incident meets the legal standing for murder or manslaughter charges against the officer.
Speaking outside the school on Wednesday afternoon, Chowdhury told reporters that the officer had threatened his girlfriend and the 15-year-old girl she had been fighting with pepper spray.
Rafeul Chowdhury (left), the father of Rodriguez's child, told reporters that the officer had not warned before firing his weapon. (Pictured with civil rights activist Najee Ali(
He claimed that the girls stopped fighting, and that the officer did not warn them he would use his gun before firing.
'All we did is just got in the car and left,' Chowdhury said. 'He never told us to stop anytime soon, and the way he shot us, it wasn't right.'
KTLA reported that Chowdhury added that he and Rodriguez had been trying to have a child for some time.
'Now we do, and she [Mona]'s gone,' he said. 'I just got to step up now and play the mother and the father role, and keep my son strong.'
Civil rights activist Najee Ali also spoke outside the school on Wednesday.
'There's no excuse, no justification for this officer shooting in the rear passenger-side window of a car with a woman who's unarmed. Everyone in the car was unarmed,' he said.
'The fact is, he shot at someone in the passenger seat with no regard for anyone's life in the car.'
'The only way we stop these safety officers from shooting unarmed people and killing them is by having them prosecuted and held accountable for what they've done wrong to members of the community.'
The family have launched up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral and legal expenses, and to help support Rodriguez's son.
'Mona is leaving behind her mom, 4 brothers, and her sister but most importantly she's leaving behind her 5 month old baby boy Isael', the page reads.
'She was smart, beautiful, loving and anyone who knew her knew how big her heart was, how full of life she was and how much she loved her family but most especially her son who was her entire life, pride and joy,' Yessica Loza, Rodriguez's cousin wrote on the page.
'We are all heart broken and in pain never did we imagine we would loose[sic] her like this or so soon she had her entire life ahead of her and because of a careless act done by a school safety guard a 5 month old baby boy was left without a mother and we all lost someone we loved so much.'
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