Uvalde trial: Former school police officer Adrian Gonzales found not guilty on all counts

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- A jury has acquitted former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales for his response to the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022.

After more than seven hours of deliberations, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all 29 counts of child endangerment.

As the verdict was read, Gonzalez bowed his head as he heard it. Several of those sitting in the gallery started crying. He hugged his lawyers, shook hands and appeared to be tearing up.

Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the mass shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage.

Prosecutors alleged Gonzales did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.

Each count carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and Gonzales could have spent the rest of his life in prison if he was convicted.

Prosecutors claimed Gonzales had a unique opportunity to stop the carnage when he arrived and learned gunman Salvador Ramos' location from a teaching aide. The aide testified that she repeatedly urged Gonzales to intervene, but said the officer did "nothing" in those crucial moments. Prosecutors also argued Gonzales failed to act once he got inside the school.

Before jurors were sent to deliberate, District Attorney Christina Mitchell gave an impassioned plea, saying, "I know this case is difficult, and it has been difficult. But we cannot continue to let children die in vain."

"What happened to Uvalde on May 24 can happen anywhere, at any time," she said. "If it's going to happen, and if we have laws mandating what the responsibility of a law enforcement peace officer is for a school district, then we better be ready to back it up."

Gonzales pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.

The defense argued that Gonzales did everything he could in that moment -- including gathering critical information, evacuating children and entering the school -- and said Gonzales acted on the information he had. The defense also highlighted that other officers arrived in the same timeframe as Gonzales and that at least one officer had an opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school.

This case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting.

In 2023, a Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff's deputy, who was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson's lawyers argued his role as an armed school resource officer did not amount to a caregiving post needed to prove child neglect in Florida, and that the response to the shooting was muddled by poor communication.

Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo -- who was the on-site commander on the day of the Robb Elementary shooting -- is also charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo's case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.