Former Uvalde officer acquitted in trial over police response to Robb
Elementary attack
[January 22, 2026]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ and JIM VERTUNO
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A former Uvalde schools police officer was
acquitted Wednesday of charges that he failed in his duties to confront
the gunman at Robb Elementary during the critical first minutes of one
of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before finding Adrian
Gonzales, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law
enforcement response to the 2022 attack, in which a teenage gunman
killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Had he been convicted, he
faced up two years in prison on more than two dozen charges of child
abandonment and endangerment.
Gonzales appeared to fight back tears and hugged his lawyers after the
verdict was read in a courtroom in Corpus Christi, hundreds of miles
from Uvalde, where his legal team said a fair trial would not have been
possible.
“Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” Gonzales told
reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he
declined.
Several family members of the victims sat in silence in the courtroom,
some crying or wiping away tears.
“Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith," said Jesse Rizo, whose
9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed. He said he was frustrated by
the verdict and hopes the state will press ahead with the trial of
former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the only other
officer who has been charged over the police response.
“Those children in the cemetery can’t speak for themselves,” Rizo said.
Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving.
Arredondo’s trial has not yet been set. Paul Looney, his attorney, told
The Associated Press that he believes the verdict will result in
prosecutors dropping the case against his client.
“These people have been vilified, and it’s horrible what’s been done to
them. These guys didn’t do anything wrong,” Looney said.
A rare trial ends in acquittal
The nearly three-week trial was an unusual case in the U.S. of an
officer facing criminal charges on accusations of failing to stop a
crime and protect lives.
The proceedings included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot
and survived. Prosecutors argued that Gonzales abandoned his training
and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he
entered the school.
“We’re expected to act differently when talking about a child that can’t
defend themselves,” special prosecutor Bill Turner said during closing
arguments Wednesday. “If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by
while a child is in imminent danger.”
At least 370 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where 77
minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to
confront and kill the gunman. Gonzales was one of just two officers
indicted, angering some victim’s relatives who said they wanted more to
be held accountable.
Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment and
endangerment — each count representing the 19 students who were killed
and 10 others who were injured.
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Mothers of Robb Elementary School shooting victims, from left,
Sandra Torres, Veronica Luevanos, and Felicha Martinez cry together
outside the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in
Corpus Christi, Texas, after former Uvalde school district police
officer Adrian Gonzales was found not guilty. (Sam Owens/The San
Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
Jurors talked about ‘gaps’ in case, lawyer says
During the trial jurors heard a medical examiner describe the fatal
wounds to the children, some of whom were shot more than a dozen
times. Several parents told of sending their children to school for
an awards ceremony and the panic that ensued as the attack unfolded.
Gonzales’ lawyers said he arrived upon a chaotic scene of rifle
shots echoing on school grounds and never saw the gunman before the
attacker went inside the school. They also insisted that three other
officers who arrived seconds later had a better chance to stop the
gunman.
“He was the lowest man on the totem pole. They thought he was easy
pickings,” Nico LaHood, one of Gonzales' attorneys, said of
prosecutors after the acquittal.
LaHood said he briefly polled jurors on their decision after the
verdict.
“They talked about gaps. They talked about perspective and what the
government didn’t prove about Adrian,” LaHood said.
Families made the long trip to attend trial
Some victims’ families made the long drive to watch Gonzales' trial.
Early on the sister of one of the teachers killed was removed from
the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer’s
testimony.
Gonzales’ trial was tightly focused on his actions in the early
moments of the attack, but prosecutors also presented the graphic
and emotional testimony as the result of police failures.
State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems
in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and
technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.
Looney, Arredondo's attorney, said he still wants his client to go
trial so he can clear his name, saying, “Pete Arredondo deserves and
needs a complete airing and public vindication. I hope he gets that
chance.”
Prosecutors faced a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often
reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen
after the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Florida. A sheriff’s
deputy was acquitted after being charged with failing to confront
the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S.
for an on-campus shooting.
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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.
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