The trial of former school police officer Adrian Gonzales began Tuesday with emotional opening statements from the prosecution and defense over the massacre at DeRob Elementary School in Uval, Texas.
Gonzalez is accused of failing to protect children before a gunman entered the school and massacred 19 children and two teachers. His lawyers say the sole person responsible for the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook is the gunman himself, who was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents.
Special Prosecutor Bill Turner said May 24, 2022, was a “celebration day” for fourth-year students to receive their end-of-year certificates, and then the shooter walked onto the campus.
He described how after shots rang out outside and Gonzalez became the first officer to arrive, coach Melodye Flores told Gonzalez where to go and reiterated that the danger was obvious.
“His gunshot went off,” Turner said of the shooter. “This is not chaos.”
“He knew where (the shooter) was, but Adrian Gonzalez was still on the south side of the school. The shooter was moving along the west side of the west building where the fourth grade students were.”
While still outside, the gunman “shot into a classroom full of kids (room 102). Adrian Gonzalez was still there. He walked up to classroom 104 and shot room 104. Adrian Gonzalez was still there,” Turner said, choking up at times.
“(The gunman) then scurried to the west door and entered. A minute passed and the shooting was paused, with Adrian Gonzalez remaining where he was.”
Prosecutors said Gonzalez reported over the police radio that he believed the gunman had entered the building. “This is not chaos. Adrian Gonzalez stays,” he said.
Gonzalez, 52, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of endangering or abandoning a child.
Defense attorney Jason Goss acknowledged prosecutors’ sentiments. “I can understand why he had emotions. If he didn’t have emotions, I wouldn’t be able to talk to you,” he told the jury.
“This is one of the worst things, one of the worst things that has ever happened to this country,” he continued. “It was too bad, but Adrian Gonzalez did the best he could with the knowledge he knew at the time.”
He said Gonzalez was responding to reports of a crash involving a man with a gun, not a school shooting.
Goss questioned prosecutors’ version of events and said the scene was chaotic.
“This is not a guy who does nothing,” he said of his client. “This was not a man sitting around doing nothing. This was a confused man. This was a man who made understandable assumptions that turned out to be wrong. But he was trying. He was heading toward danger.”
He urged the jury not to be swayed by the emotions of what happened.
“The prosecution wants you to see these horrific things and be very angry with Adrian and ‘convict him’ because this horrific thing happened,” he said, adding that the shooter was the only perpetrator.
“The monster who did this to these kids, the monster who hurt these kids, is dead. He’s dead. He didn’t get this justice.”
His fellow defense attorney Nico LaHood concluded: “Evil is not corrected by injustice.”
Gonzalez, wearing a dark gray suit and his hair slicked back, sat with his attorney during jury proceedings Tuesday.
He stood up as the two charges against him were read aloud, saying he had been informed of the shooter’s approximate location and given time to react but failed to engage, distract or delay the shooter before he entered the classroom. The names of 29 students were read out, 19 of whom were killed and 10 who survived.
In legal motions before the jury, defense attorneys objected to the display of autopsy photos of the dead children, saying they were “victims” of Gonzalez’s actions unless he was proven guilty. The judge ruled that for now, the students can only be called the shooter’s victims. He reserves the right to exclude photos at a later date.
Last year, the trial was moved 200 miles away from Uvalde to Corpus Christi based on a defense request.
The trial is only the second time police officers have been prosecuted for their actions in a school shooting. In February 2018, former school resource officer Scot Peterson was outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when a shooter inside the school killed 17 people and injured 17 others before being acquitted.
Peterson’s attorney said his client stayed outside because he couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from.
A guilty verdict in the Gonzalez case could impact how law enforcement responds to emergencies, particularly active shooter incidents.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz and Matthew J. Friedman reported in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Rachel Clarke wrote in Atlanta.
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