Former Uvalde Police Officer Found Not Guilty of Child Endangerment or Abandonment

Former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales was found not guilty of abandoning and endangering children during the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022. The verdict arrived over three years after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers, with 10 additional students sustaining injuries.

A jury acquitted Gonzales of all 29 counts of child endangerment or abandonment. The former officer faced six months to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 for each count, if convicted. Gonzales is one of two officers who were indicted by a grand jury for their role in responding to the gunman. Pete Arredondo, the former chief who served as police commander, has not yet received a set trial date.

“If it’s appropriate to stand outside, hearing 100 shots, while children are being slaughtered, that is your decision to tell the state of Texas,” special prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors in closing arguments Wednesday, per CNN. “And by the same token, if that is not appropriate, that is not how we expect officers that are charged with the duty of protecting children to act, that will also go out from this courtroom.”

In reply, Defense attorney Jason Goss argued that prosecution’s actions were mislead. “The monster who hurt those kids is dead. That monster is dead,” Goss said during closing arguments, according to NBC News.

The Department of Justice and the Texas House of Representatives have described law enforcement response to the massacre as a major failure. As parents and family members outside the school sparred with law enforcement barricading them from reaching their loved ones, who were still attempting to call for help from inside the building, the gunman remained in the school for more than an hour before police confronted and killed him.

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Following the shooting, Robb Elementary School was permanently closed. In June 2022, the city announced plans to demolish the building, with Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin saying of the decision: “You can never ask a child to go back or a teacher to go back in that school ever.”