Uvalde officer's trial to resume after juror emergency; questioning focuses on school shooting response
Testimony ended early Thursday in the trial of former Uvalde school officer Adrian Gonzales after a juror learned his wife had to be taken to the hospital. The judge in the case expects to have an update on Friday morning before making a decision on a potential alternate jury member.
Friday will mark the end of two weeks of testimony. Gonzales faces charges of child abandonment or endangerment during the May 24, 2022, attack, one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. It left 19 students and two teachers dead.
Thursday, retired Sgt. Daniel Coronado took the stand and spoke about what he saw when he arrived the day a gunman entered Robb Elementary. Gonzales' legal team asked Coronado if he saw their client go into the school and toward danger.
"He remained in danger when he remained in that school, yes," said Coronado.
Coronado said that the only time Gonzales left danger was when the chief told him to call for backup.
On Friday, prosecutors get their chance to question Coronado on the stand.
So far, the trial has focused on a single officer, not the larger police presence. Gonzales was among the first of more than 370 federal, state and local officers to arrive at the school. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to go into a classroom and kill 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos.
Trial highlights Gonzales' inaction, prosecutors say
The trial is tightly focused on Gonzales' actions. Prosecutors allege he abandoned his active shooter training and did not try to engage or distract the gunman outside the school. They said he failed again minutes later when a group of officers went inside the school, only to retreat when they came under heavy gunfire.
Prosecutors noted how students made 911 calls from inside the classroom with the gunman.
"When a child calls 911, we have a right to expect a response," special prosecutor Bill Turner said in opening statements.
Gonzales' attorneys said he never saw the gunman outside the school. They also said Gonzales helped students evacuate from other classrooms and noted how the gunman was able to quickly get inside through an unlocked door.
Teachers, staff recount terror of Robb Elementary shooting
Warning: The following story may be disturbing to some.
Over the first and second week of the trial, several Robb teachers and a staff member described the terror of seeing the gunman approach and hearing the gunfire. They described following their training for active shooter situations: locking classroom doors, turning out the lights and keeping the children quiet.
"I told them I loved them," said teacher Lynn Deming, who was wounded by shrapnel when a classroom window was shot out. "I wanted to tell them it would be OK, but I wasn't sure. I wanted to make sure the last thing they heard was that somebody loved them."
Jurors also saw photos from the classrooms that showed large amounts of blood and the dead gunman. A medical examiner described the wounds to the children, noting several were shot at least a dozen times.
Gonzales and former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo are the only two responding officers that day to face charges. Arredondo's trial has not yet been set.