A jury has acquitted former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales for his response to the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022.<\/p>\n
After one hour of deliberations, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all 29 counts of child endangerment.<\/p>\n
Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the May 24, 2022,\u00a0mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors alleged Gonzales, who is charged with 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10\u00a0surviving\u00a0students.<\/p>\n
![\"aide\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/b0dbd80d-3973-47b3-a6f0-f83b9c8b9543\/Adrian-Gonzales-1-ap-gmh-260115_1768570319661_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"aide\\"")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales speaks with a court officer as they wait for the jury to arrive on the seventh day of Gonzales’ trial at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jan. 14, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sam Owens\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Prosecutors claimed Gonzales had a unique opportunity to stop the carnage when he arrived and learned gunman Salvador Ramos’ location from a teaching aide. The aide testified that she repeatedly urged Gonzales to intervene, but said the officer did “nothing” in those crucial moments. Prosecutors also argued Gonzales failed to act once he got inside the school.<\/p>\n Gonzales pleaded not guilty\u00a0and his lawyers argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.<\/p>\n The defense argued that Gonzales did everything he could in that moment — including gathering critical information, evacuating children and entering the school — and said Gonzales acted on the information he had. The defense also highlighted that other officers arrived in the same timeframe as Gonzales and that at least one officer had an opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school.<\/p>\n Law enforcement works on the scene at Robb Elementary School, site of a May 24, 2022 mass shooting on May 25, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jordan Vonderhaar\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting.<\/p>\n In 2023, a Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, who was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson’s lawyers argued his role as an armed school resource officer did not amount to a caregiving post needed to prove child neglect in Florida, and that the response to the shooting was muddled by poor communication.<\/p>\n Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo — who was the on-site commander on the day of the Robb Elementary shooting — is also charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"college](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/88ec5241-0735-4050-a776-cb537e0a9e6a\/uvalde-1-gty-gmh-260115_1768570528642_hpEmbed_3x2.jpg?w=375 "\\"college")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>