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A former school district police officer was acquitted Wednesday evening of charges he failed in his duties to confront the gunman at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school during the critical first minutes of what would become one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Jurors deliberated for just over seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzalez, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the attack that killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
After the verdict was read, Gonzales hugged one of his lawyers and appeared to be fighting back tears.
“Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” he told reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he declined.
Upon hearing the not guilty verdict, several members of families of the victims sat in silence, some crying or wiping away tears.
“Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith,” said Jesse Rizo, whose nine-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed.
Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving the courthouse.
The trial was a rare case in the U.S. of an officer facing criminal charges over accusations of failing to stop a crime and protect lives. Gonzales had faced up to two years in prison.
A hearing into how police handled the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, heard that police arrived just three minutes after the gunman, but left him alone in the school for more than an hour; a response one official called ‘an abject failure.’
Shooter was in school for 77 minutes
The nearly three-week trial included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot and survived.
Prosecutors had argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he entered the school.
Nearly 400 law enforcement officers ultimately rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the gunman.
Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, angering the families of some victims who wanted to see more officers held accountable.
Edited hallway video and audio from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, released by the Texas’ Austin American-Statesman newspaper shows the shooter entering the school. It also shows how police later arrived but stayed in the hallway both during and after the shootings. WARNING: This video is disturbing and contains the sound of gunfire.
Prosecutors said Gonzales, who did not take the stand in his own defence, was the first officer on the scene.
Gonzales had previously insisted he didn’t freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman, and his lawyers argued that three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and didn’t fire a shot.
Body camera footage shows Gonzales being among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway trying to reach the shooter in a classroom.
Contrary to the prosecution’s portrayal of a reluctant officer, lawyers for Gonzales said he risked his life when he went into a “hallway of death” where others were unwilling to go in the early moments.
“They are trying to feed you a coward sandwich and telling you Adrian is the one who gave it to you,” defence attorney Nico LaHood told jurors.
Prosecutors called 36 witnesses over nine days in a trial that began on Jan. 5. Gonzales’ attorneys presented just two witnesses, starting with a woman who worked across the street from the school and told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view.
Jurors heard emotional testimony from teachers who recounted the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman entered the school. Prosecutors have presented graphic photos from inside the classrooms and questioned officers who described the chaos of the response.
Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo were criminally charged for the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar charges on the same day as Gonzales in 2024, but a date for his trial has not yet been set.
