Corpus Christi, Texas– The trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer charged has failed In his duty To stop an armed man in the crucial first minutes of 2022 Attack on Robb Elementary School He is expected to go to jury trial on Wednesday.
Jurors will hear closing arguments from Adrian Gonzalez Lawyers and prosecutors before deliberations begin in the rare trial of a police officer accused of failing to stop a criminal act to save lives.
Gonzalez, one of the first officers to arrive during the attack, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment for the 19 students killed and 10 others injured. Two teachers were also killed by the teenage gunman. Gonzalez faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Gonzalez did not take the stand in his own defense before the two sides concluded their case on Tuesday.
“Every second counts in an active shooter situation.” Tuesday, he drilled for three minutes between the time Gonzalez first arrived and the time he entered the building, special prosecutor Bill Turner said Tuesday. “Every second, more victims could die if a police officer were standing and waiting.”
The prosecution called 36 witnesses over nine days in the trial that began on January 5. Gonzalez’s lawyers presented just two witnesses, starting with a woman who works across the street from the school who told jurors she saw the shooter crouch between cars and try to stay out of sight — testimony that could bolster Gonzalez’s claims that he never saw the gunman.
Jurors heard emotional testimony from teachers who recounted the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman entered the school. Prosecutors showed graphic photos from inside classrooms and questioned officers who described the chaos of the response.
The trial was moved hundreds of miles to Corpus Christi after defense attorneys argued that Gonzalez could not get a fair trial in Uvalde. However, some families of the victims traveled a long distance to watch the proceedings.
Early in the trial, the sister of one of the teachers killed that day was escorted from the courtroom after an outburst following an officer’s testimony.
Prosecutors allege that the 52-year-old Gonzalez, a 10-year police veteran who led a shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not attempt to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.
However, Gonzalez insisted he did not freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman. His lawyers insist that three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and did not fire a shot. Body camera footage shows Gonzalez was among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy, smoke-filled hallway trying to get to the killer in the classroom.
Teacher Arnulfo Reyes described the vision “Black shadow with a gun” He entered the room before he was shot and all eleven of his students were killed. Other teachers described students, some as young as second grade, grabbing safety scissors to attack the gunman if he entered their room.
Prosecutors sometimes stumbled during their case, including inconsistent witness testimony.
A teacher who was one of the first witnesses was dismissed because prosecutors did not reveal before trial that she remembered seeing the black-clad gunman approaching the school. Defense attorneys asked for a mistrial on the second day but were denied, and after the state rested, they asked the judge to determine that the state had not proven the case. That was also denied.
Gonzalez was one of 376 federal, state and local officers who converged on the school as the attack occurred. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to penetrate the classroom and kill the gunman.
Only Gonzalez and former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo were criminally charged over the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar charges on the same day as Gonzalez in 2024, but his trial has not yet been set.
___
Vertuno reported from Austin.