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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A jury began deliberating Wednesday in the trial of one of the first police officers on the scene of the Robb Elementary School attack in Uvalde, Texas, and prosecutors urged a conviction to send a message that law enforcement must fulfill their duty to protect when a gunman threatens children.
Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde schools officer, is the first officer to stand trial over the hesitant police response to the 2022 massacre, when a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
The trial is a rare case of a police officer charged with failing to stop a criminal act to protect lives.
“This is a failure to act case,” special prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors in closing statements.
Gonzales, he said, had a duty to act even if it meant entering the building alone to face the gunman.
“We’re expected to act differently when talking about a child that can’t defend themselves,” Turner said. “If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while a child is in imminent danger.”
Gonzales, 52, sat at the defense table during more than two hours of closing statements from prosecutors and defense lawyers. Behind him in the courtroom were family members of several of the victims. Some cried when the names of the children killed and wounded that day were read out loud.
As jurors, Turner said, their verdict will set the bar over whether “it’s appropriate to stand outside, hearing 100 shots, while children are being slaughtered.”
Gonzales’ attorney, Jason Goss, opened his statement by telling jurors his client was not responsible for the attack.
“The monster that hurt those kids is dead,” Goss said. “It is one of the worst things that ever happened.”
A conviction would tell police they have to be “perfect” when responding to a crisis and could make them even more hesitant in the future, Goss said.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment for the 19 students killed and 10 others who were wounded. Gonzales faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Trial is in its third week
Gonzales did not take the stand in his own defense. Prosecutors said he was the first officer on the scene.
Gonazles has insisted he didn’t freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman, and his lawyers argue that three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and didn’t fire a shot.
Body camera footage shows Gonzales being among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway trying to reach the killer in a classroom.
Contrary to the portrayal of a reluctant officer officer, Gonzales risked his life when he went into a “hallway of death” where others were unwilling to go in the early moments, his lawyers said.
“They are trying to feed you a coward sandwich and telling you Adrian is the one who gave it to you,” defense attorney Nico LaHood told jurors.
Prosecutors called 36 witnesses over nine days in a trial that began Jan. 5. Gonzales’ attorneys presented just two witnesses, starting with a woman who worked across the street from the school and who told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view — testimony that could reinforce Gonzales’ 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 have presented graphic photos from inside the classrooms and questioned officers who described the chaos of the response.
Case moved out of Uvalde to get a fair trial
The trial was moved hundreds of miles to Corpus Christi after defense attorneys argued Gonzales could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde. Still, some victims’ families have made the long drive to watch the proceedings.
Early in the trial, the sister of one of the teachers killed that day was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer’s testimony.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.
Teacher Arnulfo Reyes described seeing a “black shadow with a gun” enter the room before he was shot and all 11 of his students were killed. Other teachers described students, some as young as second grade, grabbing safety scissors to attack the gunman if he came into their room.
The teachers and children followed their school shooting training, Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell told jurors.
“We’re not going to continue to teach children to rehearse their own death and not hold (police) to the training that’s mandated by state law,” Mitchell said.
Gonzales was one of 376 federal, state and local officers swarmed to the school as the attack unfolded. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to breach a classroom and kill the gunman.
Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo have been criminally charged for the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar charges on the same day as Gonzales in 2024, but his trial has not yet been set.
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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.
