Former Uvalde District Officer Arrested on 29 Charges

UVALDE, Texas – The Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest of a former Uvalde district officer on Friday.

In a statement released by Uvalde Sheriff Ruben Nolasco, they confirmed the arrest of Adrian Gonzalez, the former district officer for Uvalde CISD, on 29 charges of abandoning and endangering a child. The total number represents the children who were killed and survived in Classrooms 111 & 112. Gonzalez allegedly failed to ‘engage, distract, or delay the shooter and failed to otherwise act in a way to impede the shooter until after the shooter entered rooms 111 and 112 at Robb Elementary School and shot at a child or children.’

He also allegedly failed to ‘follow his active shooter training to respond to gunfire by racing towards the gunfire until after the active shooter shot at one or more than one child or children in rooms 111 and 112.’

“Our firm represents Adrian Gonzales. He will be self-surrendering so the judicial process can move forward. It is very early on in our representation, so we will be working to acquire the evidence the government is relying on in this accusation. Mr. Gonzales’ position is he did not violate school district policy or state law. The application of this statute to law enforcement under these circumstances is unprecedented in the state of Texas. It will take time to evaluate these allegations and the underlying facts,” said Gonzales’ lawyer, Nico LaHood.

The arrest comes after indictments were filed for Gonzales and former Uvalde School District Police Officer Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo who faces 10 charges. He allegedly ‘intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly’ placed 10 surviving students from Classroom 112 in ‘imminent danger of bodily injury, death, physical and mental impairment.’

The comments are similar to the scathing remarks Arredondo received from the January 2023 DOJ Report on the response.

“I honestly will say it was a shocker. For two years, a little over two years we’ve been waiting to hear something,” Step-Grandmother to Amerie Jo Garza Berlinda Arreola said. “This should be the first two out of many. Like I said, I’m happy because Pete is finally facing some sort of accountability. Adrian Gonzales is also facing some sort of accountability, but there were 374 other people there,” Cross said.

The charges are related to their response to the Robb Elementary School shooting, which occurred at the school on May 24, 2022. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the massacre. More than 370 officers were present on the day of the massacre and waited more than an hour to confront the gunman.

The families of the Uvalde victims and survivors are telling us this is only the first step on the long path to justice. “Justice, there are different types of Justice and this is one form and this is probably the most important because in this case you get to see—hopefully it goes to trial and hopefully we get to hear from Arredondo himself as to what he was thinking as he was letting these kids get slaughtered and let them take their last breath as parents try to go to the school and save their own child,” Jesse Rizo, Uncle to Jackie Cazares, said.

These indictments are the first we’ve seen since the massacre. State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said more should have been done. “Two indictments over hundreds of officers that were on site, at least 50 were in that hallway, nobody from the Department of Public Safety indicted,” State Sen. Gutierrez said.

Gonzales was part of the district’s force, which was suspended in October 2022. He has since posted bail and has been released from the Uvalde County jail.

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