Corpus Christi, Texas– One of the first police officers to respond to a 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, goes on trial Monday on charges of failing to protect children during the attack, when authorities waited more than an hour to confront the gunman.
Former Uvalde schools officer Adrian Gonzalez faces 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment in a rare trial for an officer accused of not doing more to stop crime and protect lives.
The teenage gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Rupp Elementary School in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Nearly 400 officers from state, local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the school, but it was 77 minutes from the time authorities arrived until a tactical team breached the classroom and killed the shooter, Salvador Ramos. An investigation later showed that Ramos was obsessed with violence and notoriety in the months leading up to the attack.
Gonzalez and former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo were among the first to arrive at the scene, the only two officers facing criminal charges for the slow response. Arredondo’s trial date has not yet been set.
The charges against Gonzalez carry a penalty of up to two years in prison if convicted. The trial, which is expected to last up to three weeks, begins with jury selection.
Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty. His attorney said Gonzalez tried to save the children that day.
Police and Texas Governor Greg Abbott initially said quick law enforcement actions killed Ramos and saved lives. But that narrative quickly disintegrated when families described begging police to enter the building and 911 calls emerged from students pleading for help.
The indictment alleges that Gonzalez placed the children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay the shooter and not following his active shooter training. The allegations also say he did not advance toward the shooting despite hearing gunshots and being told where the shooting was.
State and federal reviews of the shootings pointed to cascading problems in law enforcement training, communications, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.
According to the state audit, Gonzalez told investigators that once police realized there were students still sitting in other classrooms, he helped evacuate them.
Some family members of the victims said more officers should be charged.
“They all waited and let the children and the teachers die,” said Velma Lisa Duran, whose sister Irma Garcia was one of the two teachers killed.
Prosecutors will likely face a high hurdle to winning a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers of inaction, as we saw after the Parkland, Florida, school massacre in 2018.
Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Peterson was charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack. This was the first trial of its kind in the United States for a campus shooting, and a jury acquitted Peterson in 2023.
At the request of Gonzalez’s attorney, the trial was moved about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast to Corpus Christi. They said Gonzalez could not get a fair trial in Uvalde, and prosecutors did not object.
The city of Uvalde, with a population of 15,000, still retains many landmarks reminiscent of the shooting. Robb Elementary School is closed but still standing, and a memorial of 21 crosses and flowers stands near the school sign. Another memorial stands at the fountain in the city center square, and murals depicting many of the victims can still be seen on the walls of many buildings.
Even with a three-hour drive to Corpus Christi, the family wants someone to attend the trial every day, said Jesse Rizzo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie was one of the students killed.
“It’s important for the jury to see that Jackie has a large, strong family,” Rizzo said.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Juan A. Lozano in Houston.
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