Jury selection began Monday for the trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer facing criminal charges for his response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that the trial of Adrian Gonzales, 52, is taking place in Corpus Christi after Gonzales’ attorneys successfully argued that he could not get an impartial jury in Uvalde, which is about 200 miles away.
Gonzales was indicted last year on 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child for his conduct during the school attack. He is accused of failing to intervene immediately to stop a gunman who opened fire at the Uvalde elementary school on May 24, 2022. Nineteen fourth graders and two teachers were killed.
After a jury selection process of more than 11 hours, Judge Sid Harle finalized the jury Monday night, ABC News reports. Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday morning.
The charges against Gonzales reflect one count for each of the 19 children killed at the school and one for each of 10 injured survivors.
Another law enforcement official, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, 53, who was the Uvalde school district’s police chief at the time of the shooting, also was indicted by a Uvalde County grand jury in connection with the shooting attack. He is charged with 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child — one for each of 10 children who suffered physical or psychological injuries in the massacre, according to his indictment. Arredondo was the presumed incident commander in charge of the police response.
Arredondo has also pleaded not guilty. He will stand trial at a later date.
