Jan. 21 (UPI) — A Texas jury on Wednesday found former school police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty of felony charges accusing him of endangering children during the 2022 mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School that killed 19 students and two teachers.
Following seven hours of deliberations that capped off a two-week trial, the jury returned to the courtroom in Corpus Christi, Texas, Wednesday evening, when presiding Judge Sid Harle read its unanimous verdict that Gonzales was found not guilty on all charges.
Gonzales, 52, was facing 29 felony charges, one for each of the 19 fourth-grade students killed and 10 students wounded in the May 24, 2022, shooting.
Wearing a blue suit, Gonzales received the verdict while standing between two members of his defense counsel, one of whom placed a hand on the right shoulder of Gonzales, who bowed his head upon receiving the judge’s words.
Some members of the victims’ families who were in the courtroom cried, wiping eyes and noses with tissues, but remained silent on hearing the verdict.
On the morning of May 24, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos entered his former Robb Elementary School with an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire.
Ramos was in the school for 77 minutes before the nearly 400 officers who responded engaged Ramos, who was shot dead at the scene.
The prosecution during the trial argued that Gonzales failed to protect the students and failed to confront the gunman despite a witness having alerted him to Ramos’ location before he entered two connected classrooms.
The defense, however, successfully countered that Gonzales did what he could under the circumstances and with the information he had, arguing that he had rushed into the building after arriving on the scene, but retreated with other officers once the bullets rang out.
Nico LaHood, the primary defense attorney for Gonzales, told reporters following the verdict that the jury found gaps in the prosecution’s evidence.
“We felt Adrian was innocent from the beginning when we analyzed the situation,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a challenging case because of the emotions, the sheer emotions behind it and those precious babies being taken from those families.”
During closing arguments, special prosecutor Bill Turner told the jury that Gonzales did not follow his training, failing to engage Ramos until after children were being shot.
“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger,” he said. “If you have a duty to protect the child, you can’t stand by and allow it to happen.”
He then compared Gonzales to teachers who tried to protect students, saying they put the children first and students who tried to protect one another.
“Adrian Gonzales had a duty to put the kids first,” he said.
LaHood, in his closing arguments, told jurors that Gonzales “drove into danger” and did more than other Uvalde police officers to protect the children.
Convicting Gonzales, he argued, would inform police officers whether and ho to react to future similar situations.
“What you tell police officers is, ‘Don’t go in. Don’t react. Don’t respond,'” he said.
Gonzales is one of two former Uvalde police officers facing charges in connection to the mass shooting.
Pete Arredondo, the former Uvalde School District police chief, is facing 10 counts of child endangerment. His trial has yet to be scheduled.
