The case represents one of the rarest categories of criminal prosecution in American law — a police officer charged not for what he did, but for failing to act. More than 3½ years after the massacre, families of the victims contend that the delayed response by nearly 400 officers, who waited more than an hour before confronting and killing the gunman, may have cost lives that could have been saved.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 5 in the first criminal trial stemming from the law enforcement response to the May 2022 Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas. Former schools police Officer Adrian Gonzales, 52, faces 29 counts of child endangerment for allegedly failing to act while a gunman killed 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers. The trial was moved to Corpus Christi, about 200 miles southeast of Uvalde, after defense attorneys argued their client could not receive a fair trial in the community where the shooting occurred.

Prosecutors allege Gonzales was among the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022, yet did not advance toward gunman Salvador Ramos despite hearing gunfire and being told the shooter’s location. The indictment alleges he placed children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay Ramos and by not following his active shooter training.

Defense says officer was working to protect children

Gonzales’ attorney, Nico LaHood, said his client is innocent and that public anger over the shooting has been misdirected.

“He was focused on getting children out of that building,” LaHood said. “He knows where his heart was and what he tried to do for those children.”

Each child endangerment count carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading failures in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers from multiple agencies waited so long before entering the classrooms where Ramos had barricaded himself. Families of the 19 students and two teachers killed have said they believe faster action by law enforcement could have saved lives.

Second officer also charged; trial not yet scheduled

Gonzales and former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo are the only officers charged in connection with the shooting response. Arredondo faces multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment, but his trial has not been scheduled. He is also seeking a change of venue.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment on why only Gonzales and Arredondo were charged among the nearly 400 officers who responded to the shooting.

Criminal law scholars said the prosecution faces a high bar.

Sandra Guerra Thompson, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said it is “extremely unusual” for an officer to stand trial for not taking an action.

“At the end of the day, you’re talking about convicting someone for failing to act and that’s always a challenge,” Thompson said, “because you have to show that they failed to take reasonable steps.”

Michael Wynne, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor not involved in the case, said the conduct amounts to “clearly gross negligence” but that proving criminal malintent will be difficult.

Thompson said the circumstances of the case may nonetheless position prosecutors well.

“You’re talking about little children who are being slaughtered and a very long delay by a lot of officers,” she said. “I just feel like this is a different situation because of the tremendous harm that was done to so many children.”

Prior cases ended in acquittal and overturned conviction

Phil Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University who maintains a database of roughly 25,000 cases of police officers arrested since 2005, said a preliminary search found only two comparable prosecutions.

In the first, Florida sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson was charged after the 2018 Parkland school massacre for allegedly failing to confront the shooter — the first such prosecution in the United States for an on-campus shooting. A jury acquitted Peterson in 2023.

In the second, former Baltimore police officer Christopher Nguyen was convicted in 2022 for failing to protect an assault victim. The Maryland Supreme Court overturned that conviction in July, ruling prosecutors had not shown Nguyen had a legal duty to protect the victim. The court cited the public duty doctrine, which holds that government officials generally owe a duty to the public at large rather than to specific individuals unless a special relationship exists.