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Nearly four years after a tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 children and two teachers dead, former police officer Adrian Gonzales is standing trial to determine if he is guilty of failing to act in order to save their lives.
On Friday, January 16, it was revealed in court that the 18-year-old shooter was able to fire 117 rounds before Gonzales, 52 —a former officer for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District — breached the school. A reported 173 rounds were shot during the mass shooting. The shooter was eventually killed by a team of US Border Patrol agents more than an hour after the shooting started.
In his testimony, Texas Ranger Nick Hill argued Gonzales had just over one minute between the time that he parked his car and when the shooter entered the school, according to ABC News.
Going through the events minute-by-minute, Hill claimed Gonzales parked his vehicle at 11:31 a.m. and called in the active shooter report in less than 30 seconds after arriving at 11:32 a.m. The shooter then allegedly entered the school building at 11:32 and 59 seconds, and he was reportedly inside of the first classroom at 11:33 and 45 seconds.
Gonzales reportedly did not walk into the school until 11:35 and 48 seconds.
Per the indictment, the former officer is charged with 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment and is accused of failing to “to engage, distract or delay the shooter” in accordance with standard active shooter training.
Jury selection for the case began on January 5, with opening statements and witness testimony in the high-profile trial started the following day.
On Wednesday, January 14, Melodye Flores, who formerly served as a teacher’s aide at Robb Elementary School, gave her own emotional testimony in which she alleged that she’d begged Gonzales for help, but he allegedly “just stayed there.”
“I told him that he [the shooter] needed to get stopped before he went into the fourth-grade building,” she told the court on Wednesday.
When prosecutor Bill Turner questioned her on Gonzales’ response, she alleged that he said “just, nothing.”
She continued, “Like I said, that’s when I ran to see if everybody else was in (the school) and found a place (to hide).”
When asked how many times she urged Gonzales to go into the school and “do something” about the situation, Flores replied that she asked him to help two or three times.
However, Gonzales’ legal team argued that other officers arrived on site at almost the same time as Gonzales. They believe the situation was indicative of a failure by the local police force on a much larger scale than just one man’s actions alone.
“Those precious souls were stolen by a monster that day, but that monster was not Adrian [Gonzales],” Gonzales defense lawyer, Nico LaHood, told ABC affiliate KSAT in San Antonio. “He was there, he was present. He was going into danger. And so the narrative of the government is something we’re going to contest highly, and that’s going to be the point of contention before this jury.”
Gonzales pleaded not guilty to all charges. He faces a potential maximum sentence of 58 years behind bars if convicted.
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