Trial for officer accused of failing to guard kids throughout Uvalde capturing : NPR

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Jae C. Hong/AP CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One of many first cops to answer the 2022 college capturing in Uvalde, Texas, goes on trial Monday on costs that he failed to guard kids through the assault, when authorities waited greater than an hour to confront the gunman.

Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde faculties officer, faces 29 counts of kid abandonment or endangerment in a uncommon prosecution of an officer accused of not doing extra to cease a criminal offense and shield lives.

The teenage gunman killed 19 college students and two lecturers at Robb Elementary in one among deadliest college shootings in U.S. historical past.

Practically 400 officers from state, native and federal regulation enforcement businesses responded to the college, however 77 minutes handed from the time authorities arrived till a tactical crew breached the classroom and killed the shooter, Salvador Ramos. An investigation later confirmed that Ramos was obsessive about violence and notoriety within the months main as much as the assault.

Gonzales and former Uvalde faculties police chief Pete Arredondo had been among the many first on the scene, and they're the one two officers to face felony costs over the sluggish response. Arredondo's trial has not but been scheduled.

The fees in opposition to Gonzales carry as much as two years in jail if he's convicted. The trial, which is predicted to last as long as three weeks, begins with jury choice.

Gonzales pleaded not responsible. His lawyer has mentioned Gonzales tried to avoid wasting kids that day.

Police and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott initially mentioned swift regulation enforcement motion killed Ramos and saved lives. However that model shortly unraveled as households described begging police to enter the constructing and 911 calls emerged from college students pleading for assist.

The indictment alleges Gonzales positioned kids in "imminent hazard" of harm or loss of life by failing to have interaction, distract or delay the shooter and by not following his lively shooter coaching. The allegations additionally say he didn't advance towards the gunfire regardless of listening to photographs and being informed the place the shooter was.

State and federal opinions of the capturing cited cascading issues in regulation enforcement coaching, communication, management and expertise, and questioned why officers waited so lengthy.

In accordance with the state evaluate, Gonzales informed investigators that when police realized there have been college students nonetheless sitting in different lecture rooms, he helped evacuate them.

Some members of the family of the victims have mentioned extra officers ought to be indicted.

"All of them waited and allowed kids and lecturers to die," mentioned Velma Lisa Duran, whose sister Irma Garcia was one of many two lecturers who had been killed.

Prosecutors will doubtless face a excessive bar to win a conviction. Juries are sometimes reluctant to convict regulation enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the Parkland, Florida, college bloodbath in 2018.

Sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson was charged with failing to confront the shooter in that assault. It was the primary such prosecution within the U.S. for an on-campus capturing, and Peterson was acquitted by a jury in 2023.

On the request of Gonzales' attorneys, the trial was moved about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast to Corpus Christi. They argued Gonzales couldn't obtain a good trial in Uvalde, and prosecutors didn't object.

Uvalde, a city of 15,000, nonetheless has a number of distinguished reminders of the capturing. Robb Elementary is closed however nonetheless stands, and a memorial of 21 crosses and flower sits close to the college signal. One other memorial sits on the downtown plaza fountain, and murals depicting a number of victims can nonetheless be seen on the partitions of a number of buildings.

Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie was one of many college students killed, mentioned even with three-hour drive to Corpus Christi, the household wish to have somebody attend the trial daily.