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The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX in May 2022 was a terrible tragedy. Only two men, a police officer and the Uvalde Police Chief, were charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child. Both men pled not guilty.
The officer, Adrian Gonzales, was acquitted this week:
After more than seven hours of deliberations, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all 29 counts of child endangerment. [snip] Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the mass shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage. Prosecutors alleged Gonzales did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.
To me, this verdict was shocking, given the number of lives that were lost and the delay in law enforcement response. The Texas state legislature had passed a law that required school resource officers and police to attend active shooting training within 180 days of being hired; Gonzales would have gone through that training. He also said he followed the instructions from his police chief; it’s possible that he actually received no direction from the chief. Does that lack of information excuse him from entering the classroom where the shooter was? Did the small size of the town, just over 15,000 people, influence how the jurors responded to the officer? Shouldn’t some kind of penalty have been assigned to him, given all the lives that were lost? Did he have no responsibility for his lack of response?
After the trial, Gonzales had this to say:
The former school police officer told ABC News that he did not see Ramos [the shooter] and that he retreated from inside the school building because of an order from his commanding officer. ‘I did the best that I could with the information I was getting,’ he said, adding, ‘I don't regret it, because I took an order from my chief at that time.’
One portion of the active shooter training states the following:
‘First responders to the active shooter scene will usually be required to place themselves in harm's way and display uncommon acts of courage to save the innocent,’ the training said. ‘A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field.’
Maybe Officer Gonzales should have considered a different career.
The Police Chief Pete Arredondo is awaiting a date to be set for his trial.
Discussion (15)
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The officer did NOT do all he could have. 77 minutes to take action is insanely slow. Nonetheless, a criminal prosecution of the officer was always a long shot.
Although most people expect police officers to take action in circumstances in which people are in danger, as a general matter, in the United States the police are not under a legal obligation to take such action.
That general legal principle is useful to keep in mind when considering the suggestion that citizens don't need weapons for self defense because we have police to protect us.
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A friend of mine who was a county officer detected a break in and heard cries of distress. His options were to wait for the backup he had summoned, or respond in a timely fashion to neutralize active hostiles. He died there in the line of duty and, many years later, his killer was convicted for the murder. None of us knows how we will respond under fire. In WW II, a third of the troops deployed against the Japanese at one point in the war were unable to function under battle conditions. And it wasn't always the ones you would think.
I have read some interesting accounts where police tried to hold back armed parents whose children were involved in an active shooting situation. I recommend against strongly insisting, but I tend to find myself among competently violent people.
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I was heartsick yesterday when reading that this officer was not found guilty.
I don't know if having so many charges filed against Gonzales made it seem to the jury as though he was being made a martyr or what have you.
On reflection, I think of how in Utah there is a community that insists that every adult must own a gun. Presumably in that town, at least some teachers would have the awareness of the importance of their carrying. Should anyone decide to shoot up a school in that school district, their fate will be decided long before 77 minutes are up.
And perhaps without a single life being lost.
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Here is the Texas Penal Code in question:
Without overly belaboring the point, I can see windows that could be exploited by a solid defense attorney. However, the resultant lack of accountability is concerning.
I'd be very interested to hear the jury instructions, but they do not appear to be available, as least now,
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I thought that "I was just following orders" was no longer a valid excuse.
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