Uvalde officer trial: Judge tosses testimony of key prosecution witness, teacher talks of gunfire

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Teacher Lynn Deming told the jury she feared she had put her students in danger when a gunman began shooting toward her classroom window at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

She said she had hurried her fourth-grade students back from early recess and put them under a counter along an internal wall as she closed the blinds in her classroom.

"Shots went through the window and shrapnel hit me and I fell or jumped - I don't know what I did - I lost my glasses - and then I was worried," she told Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell, who is prosecuting former school officer Adrian Gonzales on charges that he could have done more to protect children. Gonzales has denied 29 counts of child endangerment or abandonment.

Deming struggled with her emotions as she testified about what she thought next.

"I thought I'd put the kids in the worst place," she said. "Because he was shooting through the window and the kids were directly across. I thought I made the worst mistake I had ever made."

Deming, bleeding from being hit by debris, said she crawled across the room to place her body between the windows and her students. She said she heard shots outside and then inside her building in the hallway. She told her students to pray and that she loved them.

"I wanted to tell them it would be OK, but I wasn't sure. I just wanted the last thing they heard was that somebody loved them. I think I said it a million times."

Deming also testified that she and her students were rescued through the window. Defense lawyer Jason Goss said one of the officers who helped evacuate classrooms was his client, Gonzales.

Teacher describes 911 call as gunman walked to school: Family members wept in court on Thursday as they listened to a 911 call pleading for help at Robb Elementary School when a gunman entered the campus and began shooting.

The jury watched intently as witness Amy Marin described running to get her phone to call 911 about a vehicle crash, only for concern to turn to panic when the truck driver emerged with a gun.

The call played in court captured her urging children to get to their rooms, as previously reported by CNN.

Marin, who had been planning a party for her after-school class on the day of the massacre, took several moments to compose herself after listening to the call.

DA Mitchell asked Marin what happened after the gunman entered her building.

"The shots wouldn't stop. They were just going round after round," she said, her body shaking. "I thought he's going to kill me; I'm going to die."

Defense lawyer Nico LaHood asked her about the policies regarding door locks at Robb Elementary and other schools.

Jury told to ignore teacher's words: Emotional testimony from a Robb Elementary teacher about a gunman walking onto campus will not be considered by the jury deciding whether a school district police officer could have done more to stop the massacre.

Defense lawyer Goss got witness Stephanie Hale to agree Thursday that she had not mentioned seeing the shooter or indications of gunshots when interviewed by investigators four days after the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.

Hale said she met with investigators because it was mandatory, but did not think she had important information to share. She said the questions asked later, by the grand jury and by prosecutors preparing for trial, were more specific.

On Tuesday, she testified to seeing the armed man on campus, specifically in the general area where former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District officer Gonzales would arrive - a fact the defense said had not been shared.

Gonzales is the first officer to face trial in connection with the disastrous law enforcement response to the massacre that killed 19 children and two teachers and injured others. His former boss, Pete Arredondo, has pleaded not guilty to separate charges, but a trial date has not been set.

Judge Sid Harle rejected a motion for a mistrial over the omission on Wednesday but granted the defense's request to strike her entire testimony from the record and instructed the jury not to rely on any part of it. The prosecution objected.

"The failure to turn over that specific piece of critical evidence has put us to a disadvantage with this witness, has put us to a disadvantage with our theory," Goss said.

"We believe that (allowing the witness testimony) will affect the due process rights of the defendant and our ability to continue in the defense of the case in the way that we had set it up and prepared for the first place."

Harle said he would "reluctantly" instruct the jury to disregard all of Hale's testimony.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz and Matthew J. Friedman reported from Corpus Christi and Rachel Clarke wrote in Atlanta.

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