Closing arguments in the trial of Adrian Gonzales took place yesterday and afterwards the case was handed over to the jury. The jury deliberated for about 7 hours and then reached a verdict on all 29 counts.
Jury reaches not guilty verdict in trial of ex-Uvalde school police officer accused of failing to confront gunman | Jasmine Baehr, Fox News
A jury returned a not guilty verdict Wednesday evening in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales, charged with 29… pic.twitter.com/rCam3BtHOz
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) January 22, 2026
This is essentially the same outcome as the trial of Scot Peterson in Florida, aka the coward of Broward, who stood outside while Nikolas Cruz fired shot inside a building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, ultimately killing 17 people. Peterson was put on trial an acquitted on al counts.
One of the family members of the victims who was in court yesterday said the message to law enforcement was pretty clear.
Speaking to reporters following the verdict, Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece, Jacklyn Cazares, died in the massacre, said the decision sends the wrong message to law enforcement.
“Now the message is clear,” Rizo said. “You’re an officer, you don’t have to do anything. You stand back and wait for the Army, for the Marines, everybody. You show up. No one takes accountability.”
There were nearly 400 law enforcement officers on scene during the Uvalde shooting and after one brief attempt, none of them did anything to neutralize the shooter for 77 minutes. In fact, the only thing most of them did that day was keep the parents from getting inside.
I think it’s fair to say that Gonzales was not the worst offender that day. He just happened to be the first person on the scene and the only person who potentially could have engaged the shooter before he reached the classroom. So the fact that he stood around calling for backup instead of engaging really mattered.
Despite being aware of gunfire and having been told of the shooter’s general location, Gonzales did not follow his training and failed to engage, distract or delay the gunman or even try to take those actions until after children had been shot, special prosecutor Bill Turner told the jury during closing arguments Wednesday…
“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger,” Turner said. “If you have a duty to protect the child, you can’t stand by and allow it to happen.”
Turner pointed to testimony from various teachers, telling the jury that despite the chaos of gunfire, they still acted to protect the students.
It’s true that teachers and teacher’s aids put themselves on the line for the kids that day. Melodye Flores heard about the shooter and ran outside to make sure there were no kids in danger. Testimony at trial indicated one of the teachers barricaded inside a classroom with students and got out a pair of scissors in case they had to fight to protect the kids. But Gonzales called for backup and then just paced around waiting for it to arrive.
The Uvalde police response has become a lesson in what not to do during active shooter situations. Police departments in Texas and elsewhere have revised their training, including more aggressive tactics that ask officers confronting an active shooter to risk their own safety to protect civilians.
In all, about 370 officers were involved in the police response that day in Uvalde. Dozens crammed into a school hallway, near the two classrooms under siege, but most officers remained outside the campus. Only two officers have been charged, though others were fired or left their jobs…
Gonzales’ lawyers argued that his prosecution was based on emotion and that the real culprit was the gunman.
“The monster who hurt those kids is dead. That monster is dead,” defense attorney Jason Goss told jurors during closing arguments.
There’s something to that I guess. I do feel a lot of emotion when 19 children (and 2 adults) are murdered. But maybe the problem here is the law. Maybe the law should be more clear about what is expected of police officers in an emergency. We have the accepted policy which is taught nationwide, but apparently there’s no penalty for not following that policy.
There is still one trial to come based on this shooting. Will that trial be any different than this one?
A second officer, the former school police chief Pete Arredondo, is expected to face trial later this year on similar charges as Mr. Gonzales did. Mr. Arredondo is accused of treating the incident as one involving an assailant barricaded inside, which meant trying to negotiate a surrender, and not an active shooter situation, which requires a more immediate and aggressive response. He has pleaded not guilty.
The only difference between this trial and the upcoming one of Pete Arredondo is that Arredondo was at least arguably in charge of the entire response. So the failure at Uvalde wasn’t just about what he personally did but what he told others to do. We’ll see in a few months if that matters to a jury.
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