Testimony ended Tuesday in the trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of failing to stop a gunman during the 2022 Robb Elementary School attack, setting the case on a path toward the jury. Closing arguments are scheduled Wednesday before jurors begin deliberations in Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the Associated Press.
The defense for Adrian Gonzales rested after calling two witnesses, including a police tactics expert who was expected to bolster the argument that Gonzales did the best he could after driving onto campus amid a chaotic scene. Gonzales, 52, pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment and did not take the stand in his own defense. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison.
Prosecutors, for their part, rested their case after nine days of testimony from 36 witnesses that began Jan. 5. AP reported that Gonzales’ only two witnesses included a woman who worked across the street from the school and told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view—testimony that could reinforce the defense position that Gonzales never saw the gunman.
AP said jurors at times heard emotional testimony from teachers who described the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman entered the school and killed 19 students and two teachers. Prosecutors also presented graphic photos from inside classrooms and called officers who described the chaos of the response, along with recordings of gunshots and testimony from a medical examiner about fatal wounds to children. Short, anguished statements from parents of children killed or wounded that day were also described in AP’s account.
In court, AP reported that special prosecutor Bill Turner told the jury, “Every second counts in an active shooter situation.” Turner also drilled down on “Every second, more victims can die if a police officer is standing and waiting,” focusing on three minutes between when Gonzales first arrived and when he went into the building.
According to the report, prosecutors’ theory was that Gonzales abandoned his training and did not try to stop the gunman before he entered the school. AP said prosecutors alleged Gonzales had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting. The trial was described as a rare case charging a police officer with failing to stop a criminal act to protect lives.
The defense countered that Gonzales did not freeze and never saw the gunman, AP said. The defense position also rested on the claim that three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and did not fire a shot, and on body camera footage showing Gonzales among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway while trying to reach the killer in a classroom.
AP also reported multiple procedural and evidentiary disputes during the trial, including instances in which prosecutors stumbled in their presentation. The account cited inconsistent testimony from witnesses and a mistaken display of a photo from inside a classroom showing “LOL” written in blood. AP said a teacher who was an early witness was dismissed because prosecutors had not disclosed before trial that she recalled seeing the gunman dressed in black approaching the school.
Defense attorneys asked for a mistrial on the second day but were denied, AP reported. After the state rested, they asked the judge to determine the state had not proved its case, and that request was also denied. AP further reported that early in the trial, the sister of a teacher killed that day was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following an officer’s testimony.
The report described how hundreds of officers responded as the attack unfolded: Gonzales was one of 376 federal, state and local officers who swarmed to the school. AP said it would take more than an hour for a tactical team to breach a classroom and kill the gunman, and that only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo have been criminally charged for the delayed response.