Closing arguments set in former Uvalde officer’s trial over actions during 2022 school attack

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — The trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of failing in his duty to stop a gunman in the critical first minutes of the 2022 Robb Elementary School attack was expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.

Jurors will hear closing arguments from Adrian Gonzales ‘ attorneys and state prosecutors before starting deliberations in a rare trial of a police officer charged with failing to stop a criminal act to save lives.

Gonzales, one of the first officers to arrive during the attack, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment for the 19 students killed and 10 more who were wounded. Two teachers were also killed by the teenage gunman. Gonzales faces up to two years in jail if convicted.

Gonzales did not take the stand in his own defense before both sides rested their case Tuesday.

“Every second counts in an active shooter situation.” special prosecutor Bill Turner said Tuesday, drilling down on three minutes between when Gonzales first arrived and when he went into the building. “Every second, more victims can die if a police officer is standing and waiting.”

Prosecutors called 36 witnesses over nine days in a trial that began Jan. 5. Gonzales’ attorneys presented just two witnesses, starting with a woman who worked across the street from the school and who told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view — testimony that could reinforce Gonzales’ claims that he never saw the gunman.

Jurors have 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.

The trial was moved hundreds of miles to Corpus Christi after defense attorneys argued Gonzales could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde. Still, some victims’ families have made the long drive to watch the proceedings.

Early in the trial, the sister of one of the teachers killed that day was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer’s testimony.

Prosecutors allege the 52-year-old Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.

Gonzales, however, has insisted he didn’t freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman. His lawyers insist 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 killer in a classroom.

Teacher Arnulfo Reyes described seeing a “black shadow with a gun” enter the room before he was shot and all 11 of his students were killed. Other teachers described students, some as young as second grade, grabbing safety scissors to attack the gunman if he came into their room.

Prosecutors stumbled at times while presenting their case, including inconsistent testimony from witnesses.

A teacher who was one of the early witnesses was dismissed because prosecutors had not disclosed before trial that she recalled seeing the gunman dressed in black approaching the school. Defense lawyers asked for a mistrial on the second day but were denied, and after the state rested, they asked the judge to determine the state had not proved it case. That also was denied.

Gonzales was one of 376 federal, state and local officers swarmed to the school as the attack unfolded. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to breach a classroom and kill the gunman.

Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo have been criminally charged for the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar charges on the same day as Gonzales in 2024, but his trial has not yet been set.

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Vertuno reported from Austin.