UVALDE, Texas — A former Uvalde CISD police officer plans to plead not guilty in an arraignment Thursday morning, according to his attorney.
Adrian Gonzales is charged with 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child for his alleged actions on May 24, 2022 during the Robb Elementary school massacre where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
A grand jury indicted Gonzales last month along with former Uvalde CISD police chief, Pete Arredondo.
San Antonio-based Attorney Nico LaHood is representing Gonzales. He said right now they are waiting to gain access to the prosecutor’s discovery or evidence.
“He was there to help and serve and to serve and try to do his best to protect those children,” LaHood said. “He believes he did nothing wrong.”
Gonzales had been with the school district’s police department since July 2021 and before that, he was with Uvalde Police.
“He’s not being accused of overstepping his authority, he’s being accused of under stepping his authority and not doing enough so we need to see if the evidence fits that allegation and whether it fits into the scope of this specific statue,” LaHood said.
According to a report from the Texas House of Representatives, Gonzales told investigators on the day of the mass shooting, he was one of the first officers to arrive on scene. He said he had heard gunshots and entered the school alongside Arredondo.
The indictment states Gonzales failed to engage the assailant after hearing those gunshots and being informed of the shooter’s general location. It also alleged he failed to use his active shooter training.
LaHood said he thinks the charge is a stretch.
“It’s a case of first impression in Texas so it hasn’t been used in this fashion before against law enforcement so there’s specific elements that has to be proven,” LaHood said. “We have not seen evidence that those elements can be proven or established against Mr. Gonzales.”
LaHood said he believes the anger stemming from this tragedy should not be directed towards his client.
Many families have voiced otherwise, calling for this type of accountability for years.
“It was a horrible thing that happened by an evil person that I classified as a monster as I’ve said earlier, he’s passed man’s judgement,” LaHood said. “I believe he’s in internal judgement right now.”
LaHood said it was too soon to say if he will file a motion to move the case out of Uvalde County. Pete Arredondo waived his arraignment and pled not guilty.
Gonzales is still set to appear in court Thursday morning.