Watch live: Closing arguments in former Uvalde officer's trial over actions during 2022 school attack
The trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of failing in his duty to stop a gunman in the critical first minutes of the 2022 Robb Elementary School attack was expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.
Jurors will hear closing arguments from Adrian Gonzales ' attorneys and state prosecutors before starting deliberations in a rare trial of a police officer charged with failing to stop a criminal act to save lives.
Gonzales, one of the first officers to arrive during the attack, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment for the 19 students killed and 10 more who were wounded. Two teachers were also killed by the teenage gunman. Gonzales faces up to two years in jail if convicted.
Gonzales did not take the stand in his own defense before both sides rested their case Tuesday.
Prosecutors allege the 52-year-old Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.
Gonzales, however, has insisted he didn't freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman. His lawyers insist three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and didn't fire a shot. Body camera footage shows Gonzales being among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway trying to reach the killer in a classroom.
Gonzales was one of 376 federal, state and local officers swarmed to the school as the attack unfolded. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to breach a classroom and kill the gunman.
Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo have been criminally charged for the delayed response. Arredondo was indicted on similar charges on the same day as Gonzales in 2024, but his trial has not yet been set.
How to watch closing arguments in the Uvalde officer trial
- What: Prosecutors and defense attorneys present closing arguments in the trial of former Uvalde ISD police officer Adrian Gonzales
- When: Arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. CT
- Where: Corpus Christi, Texas
- How to watch: Streaming on CBS News Texas in the player above or on the CBS News app, Pluto TV and the CBS Texas YoutTube channel.