CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A jury on Wednesday acquitted former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officer Adrian Gonzales of 29 felony counts of child endangerment stemming from the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School. Jurors deliberated more than seven hours before returning not-guilty verdicts on every count in the first criminal trial centered on the delayed law enforcement response, Jan. 21, 2026.
Uvalde officer acquitted: what the jury heard
Prosecutors argued Gonzales failed to act as the gunman approached and entered the school, despite training that emphasizes quickly confronting an active shooter. The 29 counts tracked each of the 19 students killed and 10 surviving students, according to ABC News.
In closing arguments, special prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors, “You can’t stand by and allow it to happen.” Defense attorney Jason Goss said the state was trying to make one officer answer for a broader collapse in command and communications: “They have decided he has to pay for the pain of that day and it’s not right,” he said, as Reuters reported. Each count carried a potential penalty of up to two years in prison.
In the Uvalde officer acquitted case, the trial was held in Nueces County after being moved from Uvalde, where defense attorneys said it would be difficult to seat an impartial jury. The Washington Post reported prosecutors focused on a moment when a woman ran past Gonzales early in the chaos, warning that a shooter was inside.
The 2022 attack left 19 children and two teachers dead and sparked national outrage when video and testimony showed officers waiting 77 minutes before a tactical team entered the classrooms and killed the gunman. Gonzales was among the first of more than 400 officers who ultimately converged on the small South Texas campus.
Questions about the response have built for years. A Texas House investigative committee described widespread leadership and communication failures in 2022, findings detailed in a Texas Tribune report on systemic breakdowns. A separate federal review released in 2024 said “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training” shaped the outcome, as summarized in a Texas Tribune story on the Justice Department review.
The criminal cases followed. A Uvalde County grand jury indicted Gonzales and former Uvalde CISD police chief Pete Arredondo in June 2024, a move described in a Reuters report on the indictments. Arredondo, who has pleaded not guilty, still faces trial on child endangerment allegations, including 10 counts.
After the Uvalde officer acquitted verdict, what comes next
Even with the Uvalde officer acquitted, the prosecution of Arredondo remains pending and is expected to keep the Uvalde response under a national spotlight. Texas Public Radio reported the Gonzales case was the first criminal trial tied to the police response, making the next proceeding a closely watched test of whether prosecutors can prove criminal liability for hesitation at the scene.
Outside court, the Uvalde officer acquitted spoke briefly to reporters, saying he was focused on “picking up the pieces and moving forward.” For some relatives of the victims, the Uvalde officer acquitted decision landed as another painful chapter in a tragedy that has already produced years of investigations, public hearings and demands for accountability.
