Uvalde, Texas, school officer pleads not guilty to charges of failing to protect kids during attack

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — A former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer who was part of the slow law enforcement response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School pleaded not guilty during a court appearance Thursday.

Adrian Gonzales was one of the nearly 400 law enforcement personnel who responded to the scene but then waited more than 70 minutes to confront the shooter inside the school. Teary-eyed family members were in the courtroom in the small Texas town to watch as Gonzales was arraigned on charges of abandoning and failing to protect children who were killed and wounded.

Some of the victims’ families have spent more than two years pressing for officers to face charges after 19 children and two teachers were killed inside the fourth-grade classroom. Some have called for more officers to be charged.

“For only two to be indicted, there should have been more because there was a lot of ranking officers during that day that knew what to do but decided not to. But they only got these two,” Jerry Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was killed, said after the hearing.

“We’ll take what we get and we’re just gonna continue fighting for the kids and the two teachers and see it all the way through,” Mata said.

Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo were indicted by a grand jury in June. Arredondo waived his arraignment and entered a not guilty plea earlier this month. Both were released on bond following their indictments.

Prior to the hearing, Gonzales’ attorney called the charges “unprecedented in the state of Texas.”

“Mr. Gonzales’ position is he did not violate school district policy or state law,” said Nico LaHood, the former district attorney for Bexar County.

Javier Montemayor, who is listed by the Uvalde District Clerk as Arredondo’s attorney, did not reply to Wednesday phone messages seeking comment.

The May 24, 2022, attack was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The police response has been heavily criticized in state and federal investigations that described “cascading failures” in training, communication and leadership among officers who waited outside the building while some victims lay dying or begging for help.

Gonzales, 51, was among the first officers to arrive. He was indicted on 29 charges that accuse him of abandoning his training and not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots as he stood in a hallway.

Arredondo, 53, was the on-site commander that day. He is charged with 10 felony counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Arredondo failed to identify an active shooting, did not follow his training and made decisions that slowed the police response to stop a gunman who was “hunting” victims, according to the indictment.

Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as parents begged officers to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.

Each charge against Gonzales and Arredondo carries up to two years in jail if convicted.

It is the latest — yet still rare — case in which a U.S. law enforcement officer was charged with allegedly failing to act during a school shooting. The first such case to go to trial was a sheriff’s deputy in Florida who did not confront the perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland massacre. The deputy was acquitted of felony neglect last year. A lawsuit by the victims’ families and survivors is pending.

Several families of Uvalde victims have filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media and online gaming companies and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.

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This story was corrected to reflect that the shooting happened on May 24, 2022, not May 22, 2024.

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Lathan, who reported from Austin, Texas, is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.