A jury found former Uvalde CISD police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty of child endangerment Wednesday in his response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.
Gonzales, who was the first officer to arrive at the school while the gunman was still outside, was facing 29 counts of abandoning or endangering children. Each count represented the 19 children killed and 10 injured during the attack. Two teachers were also killed.
The prosecution claimed Gonzales, 52, did not follow his active shooter training and did nothing to stop the gunman in the early moments of the shooting. A witness allegedly alerted Gonzales to the shooter’s whereabouts moments before he entered two adjoined classrooms where he would carry out his rampage.
RELATED ARTICLE: 80% of Uvalde Sheriff Deputies Had No Active Shooter Training Prior to Shooting
Lawyers for Gonzales, who pleaded not guilty, argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law enforcement failure that day, alleging three other officers had arrived seconds later and also failed to stop the gunman, the New York Times reports. Gonzales’ lawyers also presented evidence that he rushed into the building minutes after arriving but retreated with the other officers after shooting began.
Although nearly 400 law enforcement officers responded to the scene, and some victims repeatedly called 911 for help, police waited 77 minutes before breaching the classrooms and killing the gunman.
Second Case Brought Against a School Police Officer
The criminal case against Gonzales has created discourse about the responsibilities of police officers and who can be held accountable for a mass shooting. It is the second case ever brought against a school police officer accused of failing to act during an active shooter situation, according to CNN.
In the first case, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School SRO Scot Peterson was found not guilty of felony neglect and other charges stemming from his failure to respond to the 2018 Parkland mass shooting. Surveillance video shows Peterson waited outside for 48 minutes as a former student shot and killed 17 people. He and the shooter were the only two individuals charged as a result of the Valentine’s Day massacre.
RELATED ARTICLE: Uvalde County Commissioners Vote to Release Robb Elementary Shooting Records
Following Peterson’s arrest, his lawyer argued the charges should be dismissed since Peterson did not legally have a duty to care for students since he is not a caregiver.
“Mr. Peterson cannot reasonably be prosecuted because he was not a ‘caregiver,’ which is defined as a parent, adult household member or other person responsible for a child’s welfare,” the lawyer said. “Mr. Peterson was not criminally negligent in his actions, as no police officer has ever been prosecuted for his or her actions in responding to an active shooter incident.”
Uvalde CISD Police Chief to Stand Trial
Gonzales was one of two former Uvalde CISD police officers charged with child endangerment in response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander on the day of the shooting, is also facing 10 child endangerment charges. He pleaded not guilty.
Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, according to ABC.
