By Eric Levenson, Matthew J. Friedman, Shimon Prokupecz, Rachel Clarke, CNN
(CNN) — A Texas jury began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of Adrian Gonzales, the former Uvalde police officer accused of failing to confront the school shooter at Robb Elementary School in May 2022.
The deliberations come three weeks into Gonzales’ trial on 29 counts of child endangerment or abandonment related to his actions during the mass shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In closing arguments Wednesday morning, special prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors they can send a clear message with their verdict.
“If it’s appropriate to stand outside, hearing 100 shots, while children are being slaughtered, that is your decision to tell the state of Texas,” he said. “And by the same token, if that is not appropriate, that is not how we expect officers that are charged with the duty of protecting children to act, that will also go out from this courtroom.”
In response, defense attorney Jason Goss said a guilty verdict would send a different message to law enforcement: If you take some action in response to a shooting, you could similarly be sitting in court as a defendant.
“What you’re telling police officers is don’t react, don’t respond,” he told the jury. “We cannot have law enforcement feel that way. That if they’re not perfect, if they don’t make a perfect decision, then that’s where they go.”
Prosecutors called 35 witnesses, including teachers, parents, law enforcement officers and medical experts, as they sought to prove Gonzales – the first officer to respond to the shooting – learned about the gunman’s movement and heard gunshots but did not attempt to stop the attack.
The defense called just two witnesses over two hours Tuesday. They focused their energies instead on cross-examining the prosecution’s witnesses, probing for inconsistencies, raising questions about what Gonzales knew and when he knew it and challenging the actions and inactions of other officers on scene.
Gonzales did not testify in his own defense.
The trial is the first criminal case stemming from the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, in which an 18-year-old gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers and wounded another 10 children. Hundreds of police rushed to the school to respond, but it took 77 minutes for them to confront and kill the shooter – a lengthy time period that has led to years of investigations and finger-pointing about the delay.
In 2024, Gonzales and former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo were indicted on criminal charges related to the delayed response. Arredondo has pleaded not guilty, and a trial date has not been set.
The criminal case against Gonzales raises difficult legal questions about the responsibilities of police officers and who can be held accountable for a mass shooting. If convicted, he could face six months to two years in jail for each count.
This is only the second case ever brought against a school police officer accused of failing to