Former Uvalde officer’s defense team to be questioned on January 7th
The attorney for Adrian Gonzalez, the former police officer indicted for his role in the police response to the 2022 Uvalde shooting, will speak on Jan. 7 after his motion for a mistrial was denied.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas jury on Wednesday, Jan. 21, acquitted a former police officer of all criminal child endangerment charges stemming from law enforcement’s failure to respond to a 2022 school shooting.
On May 24, 2022, Adrian Gonzalez was one of the first police officers to arrive at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after a shooting. Based on Gonzalez’s response to the shooting and his alleged failure to stop the shooting and rescue the murdered victims, Gonzalez was charged with 29 child endangerment charges.
Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty.
Adrian Gonzalez, 52, of the Uvalde School District Police Department, was charged with 29 counts of child endangerment after prosecutors said he failed to stop the gunman in the first few minutes of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty.
The perpetrator, an 18-year-old former student at the same school, was eventually shot and killed by other police officers. Former Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo also faces criminal charges for his response to the shooting, but his trial has not yet begun.
The prosecution and defense have been questioning witnesses for the past two weeks. On January 20, both sides adjourned the case.
Gonzalez was accused of failing to immediately confront the gunman during the first critical moments after arriving at the scene of the shooting, but he did not offer his own defense.
The jury deliberated for about seven hours and reached a verdict of not guilty on all 29 charges against Gonzalez. “We cannot sit back and let this happen,” Special Prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors in closing arguments.
Defense attorney Jason Goss countered that prosecutors were trying to use Gonzalez as a scapegoat to “make him pay for his suffering that day.”
Meanwhile, families of the murdered children could be seen crying in court after the verdict was read. Mr. Gonzalez bowed his head and appeared emotional after hearing the verdict.
Judge Sid Harle briefly thanked the jurors for their hard work, then released them and adjourned the case.
Contributed by: Reuters
