A former Uvalde school police officer has been found not guilty of child endangerment in the Texas school shooting
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A former county police officer was acquitted Wednesday evening of charges that he failed to do his duty to confront the gunman at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school in the critical first minutes of what would become one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
Jurors deliberated for a little more than seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzalez, 52, not guilty in the first trial over doubts about law enforcement’s involvement in the attack that killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
After the decision was read, Gonzales hugged one of his lawyers and seemed to be fighting back tears.
“Thank you to the judges for considering all the evidence,” he told reporters. When asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he refused.
While listening to the verdict of not guilty, many members of the victims’ families remained silent, some crying or wiping away tears.
“Faith is broken, but you never lose faith,” said Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece, Jackie Cazares, was killed.
The judges refused to speak to reporters as they left the courtroom.
The trial was a rare case in the US of an officer facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to stop crime and protect lives. Gonzales was sentenced to two years in prison.
A hearing on how police handled the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, heard that police arrived just three minutes after the gunman, but left him alone at the school for more than an hour; the response one official said was ‘a big failure.’
The shooter was at the school for 77 minutes
The trial, which lasted for three weeks, also included the emotional testimony of the teachers who were shot and survived.
Prosecutors had argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or distract the young gunman before he entered the school.
Nearly 400 police officers eventually rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the shooter.
Gonzales was one of two officers charged, angering victims’ families who wanted to see more officers held accountable.
Edited video of the hallway and audio from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, released by Texas’ Austin American-Statesman newspaper shows the shooter entering the school. It also shows how the police arrived later but stayed in the hallway during and after the shooting. WARNING: This video is disturbing and contains the sound of gunshots.
Prosecutors said Gonzales, who did not respond, was the first officer on the scene.
Gonzales had previously insisted that he was not surprised during the commotion and did not see the gunman, and his lawyers argued that three police officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman outside and did not fire.
Body camera footage shows Gonzales among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway trying to reach the shooter in the classroom.
Contrary to the prosecutor’s portrayal of a reluctant officer, Gonzales’ lawyers say he put his life in danger when he entered the “corridor of death” where others were unwilling to go early.
“They tried to feed you a coward sandwich and they told you Adrian gave it to you,” defense attorney Nico LaHood told jurors.
Prosecutors called 36 witnesses over nine days in the trial that began on Jan. 5. Gonzales’ lawyers presented only two witnesses, starting with a woman who works across the street from the school and told the jury that she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying not to be seen.
Jurors heard physical evidence from teachers who recounted the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman walked into the school. Prosecutors presented graphic images inside classrooms and asked police to describe the chaotic response.
Only Gonzales and former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo have been charged in connection with the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on the same charges as Gonzales in 2024, but his trial date has not been set.
