A jury has found former Uvalde (Texas) school district police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty on all charges of abandoning or endangering children in connection with the 2022 shooting attack at Robb Elementary School.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that Gonzales stood trial for more than two weeks, charged with failing to act immediately to stop a gunman who burst into the elementary school in Uvalde on May 24, 2022, and killed 19 children. Another 10 students were wounded.
Gonzasles faced 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. The jury reached a verdict after more than seven hours of deliberation. In the courtroom, the family members of several children killed in the shooting appeared anguished when they heard words “not guilty.”
After the verdict, Gonzales and his attorneys expressed gratitude for the jury’s decision.
“I want to start by thanking God for this — my family and my wife,” Gonzales said tearfully as his family stood nearby.
Gonzales was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at Robb Elementary that day. He was normally stationed at Uvalde High School, but he responded to a call for help at Robb Elementary that was broadcast on the police radio. He arrived 25 seconds before several other officers, his attorneys said.
Prosecutors asserted that Gonzales heard gunshots and was told the gunman’s general whereabouts, but failed to confront him and never tried to do so before the shooter went into two classrooms and killed the victims. Two teachers also were killed in the rampage.
But defense attorneys argued to the jury that Gonzales went willingly into the line of fire and was among the first five police officers to go inside the school before being driven back when the gunman opened fire on them.
