Former Uvalde officer Adrian Gonzales acquitted of all charges

According to People, former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Officer Adrian Gonzales was acquitted on all charges related to his response to the May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Gonzales faced 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment; NBC News reported 19 counts were connected to children who died and 10 to survivors.

He had pleaded not guilty. Authorities waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, Salvador Ramos, who was not killed until approximately 77 minutes after law enforcement first arrived. The San Antonio Express-News reported Gonzales had SWAT training and served as the district's active-shooter instructor, and a Justice Department report found nearly 400 officers responded and cited "cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training." Per KSAT, the prosecution called 36 witnesses and the defense two during a trial that lasted nearly three weeks, and the jury deliberated approximately seven hours, six minutes and 30 seconds before returning not-guilty verdicts; KSAT also noted Texas child endangerment charges are state felonies that could carry six months to two years in state jail if convicted.

Former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo has also pleaded not guilty and, according to ABC News, his case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit after the U.S.

Key Topics

World, Adrian Gonzales, Robb Elementary, Salvador Ramos, Pete Arredondo, Justice Department