Texas school shooting: Former Uvalde school police officer found not guilty of child endangerment on all 29 counts
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Texas school shooting: Former Uvalde school police officer found not guilty of child endangerment on all 29 counts")
Adrian Gonzalez in the court. Photograph: (X/@Simone_DeAlba)
Gonzales was accused of abandoning his training, doing nothing to stop or interrupt the gunman before he entered the school. Around 400 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where a tactical team arrived after 77 minutes to confront and kill the gunman in the classroom.
A former school district police officer was cleared on Wednesday evening of allegations that he failed to carry out his duties by not confronting the gunman during the crucial early minutes of the 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.
After deliberating for more than seven hours, jurors found 52-year-old Adrian Gonzalez not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the attack that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
As the verdict was delivered, Gonzalez embraced one of his attorneys and appeared close to tears. He thanked the jury for reviewing all the evidence but declined to comment when asked whether he wished to address the victims’ families, according to a report in CBC News.
Gonzales was accused of abandoning his training, doing nothing to stop or interrupt the gunman before he entered the school. Around 400 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where a tactical team arrived after 77 minutes to confront and kill the gunman in the classroom.
Families of victims wanted more officers to be held accountable
Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, but the families of some victims wanted more officers to be held accountable for the killing in the school. Prosecutors stated that Gonzales was the first officer who did not take the stand in his own defence.
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Previously, Gonzales had insisted that in the chaotic early moments, he didn't freeze as he never saw the gunman. His lawyers also argued that on the other side of the school, three officers saw the gunman and didn't fire a shot. The body camera footage shows Gonzales was among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway, attempting to reach inside the classroom and encounter the gunman.
Describing the incident, lawyers for Gonzales stated that he risked his life when he went into a "hallway of death" where others were unwilling to go in the early moments. "They are trying to feed you a coward sandwich and telling you Adrian is the one who gave it to you," defence attorney Nico LaHood told jurors.
Prosecutors called 36 witnesses over nine days of testimony in a trial that opened on January 5. The defence presented just two witnesses, beginning with a woman who worked across the street from the school and told jurors she saw the gunman moving between parked vehicles in an apparent attempt to avoid being seen.
Jurors also heard emotional accounts from teachers who described the terrifying moments after the 18-year-old attacker entered the building. Prosecutors introduced graphic images from inside the classrooms and questioned officers who detailed the confusion and disorder that marked the police response.
Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo faced criminal charges over the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar counts on the same day as Gonzales in 2024, though a trial date has yet to be scheduled.
The case was unusual in the United States, where criminal prosecutions of police officers for alleged failures to prevent crimes are rare. Gonzalez had faced a possible sentence of up to two years in prison.
