Former Uvalde officer Adrian Gonzales pleads not guilty to 29 counts of child endangerment

Texas Public Radio | By Kayla Padilla

Published July 25, 2024 at 2:31 PM CDT

Adrian Gonzales [second from left] walks with his lawyers to the Uvalde County Courthouse for his arraignment on Thursday, July 25, 2024. Gonzales and former UCISD police Chief Pete Arredondo were indicted in late June.

Former Uvalde school officer Adrian Gonzales pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child in connection to the Robb Elementary School shooting. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed by a teenage gunman in 2022.

Gonzales was one of only two officers charged in connection with the failed police response that saw 376 officers wait for more than an hour to confront the gunman. According to his indictment, Gonzales failed to follow active shooter training.

On July 10, former school district chief of police Pete Arredondo waived his arraignment and entered a not guilty plea for 10 counts of child endangerment.

Arredondo was the presumed incident commander on that day and did not demonstrate incident command training, according to the critical incident review by the U.S. Department of Justice.

He was arrested and taken into the Uvalde County Jail on the evening the indictments were announced.

Jesse Rizo lost his 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares in the shooting. Though still disappointed with the lack of overall charges, he said that at least Gonzales showed up, unlike Arredondo.

“He [Gonzales] was one of the first responding officers. He didn’t have the audacity or the dignity to turn around and face the families [today]. So it’s a big day,” Rizo said.

These are the first charges to come out of Uvalde in connection to the botched police response to the Robb Elementary shooting. District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not attend the arraignment and did not comment on the indictments.

Families of the victims filled the courtroom and waited anxiously for Gonzales’ arrival.

Gloria, Javier and Jazmin Cazares lost their 10-year-old daughter Jackie in the shooting. Like most parents, they left the courtroom with somber looks and tears in their eyes.

Other parents in the courtroom included Nikki and Brett Cross, who lost their 10-year-old son Uziyah; Kimberly and Felix Rubio, who lost their 10-year-old daughter Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio; and former Robb Elementary teacher and shooting survivor Arnulfo Reyes.

The county shut down streets around the courthouse until noon on Thursday for the arraignment.

The pre-trial date for Gonzales was scheduled for September.