SAN ANTONIO – A former Uvalde CISD officer pleaded not guilty to 29 state felony counts in court Thursday morning.
The hearing for Adrian Gonzales lasted only minutes. His next hearing was set for Sept. 16.
Gonzales is indicted on 29 counts of abandoning/endangering a child, a state felony. State jail felonies are punishable by up to two years in a state jail.
The charges come more than five months after a grand jury in Uvalde County was first impaneled to review the case for possible criminal charges.
Thursday’s arraignment at the Uvalde County Courthouse was presided over by Judge Sid Harle, the 4th Administrative Judicial Region judge. A few dozen family members of the victims of the May 24, 2022, Robb Elementary School shooting attended the hearing. No cameras or phones were allowed in the courtroom.
Gonzales’ attorney Nico LaHood said they have yet to hear a theory of why Gonzales was singled out among the more than 370 officers who responded to the shooting.
“He feels he’s innocent and he doesn’t understand why this attention is directed to him,” LaHood said following the hearing. “He feels horrible that those children’s lives were lost. But he doesn’t feel he’s responsible for it, obviously. There’s a monster involved in this situation and he is no longer within man’s justice. I believe he’s in eternal justice now. But Mr. Gonzalez feels he was just there to help these children.”
Family members of the victims said they’ve been waiting for a long time to see accountability for the officers who responded to the shooting yet didn’t breach the classroom for more than 77 minutes.
“It feels very emotional. For two years we’ve been asking for this,” said Jessie Rizo, uncle of Jackie Cazares, one of 19 children killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022. “It’s a lot of emotion, a lot of anger, a lot of hatred.”
Former UCISD chief Peter Arredondo was also indicted on 10 counts of abandoning/endangering a child.
He has waived his appearance for arraignment and has already submitted a not-guilty plea.
Previous Story:
Earlier this week, LaHood told KSAT 12 they wanted to attend the hearing to get a sense of what to expect in this case.
“It gives us opportunity, obviously, to speak with the prosecutors,” LaHood said. “We plan to pick up, I don’t know how much of the evidence, but a portion of the evidence and to start conversations”
The biggest task LaHood said his team will have to deal with is going through the large amount of evidence.
“Our understanding, from what the prosecutor has told us, is that there’s an enormous amount of evidence, as you can imagine, with over 370 law enforcement officers there, you can imagine the body cams, the reports, school video,” LaHood said. “This is going to be a lot to look through, and it’s going to be a long process.”
LaHood said it’s too early in the process to ask for a change of venue, but he understands the magnitude of this case for Uvalde.
“It’s a hard case in the sense that it’s emotional,” LaHood said. “I mean, you’re dealing with so much loss and you’re dealing with precious children. But my client, he feels did nothing wrong, he was just there to help.”
LaHood hopes nobody passes judgment on his client until all the evidence has been presented.
“That righteous anger, that is justifiable and understandable, I mean, just pause and see whether it’s appropriately directed towards Mr. Gonzalez or not,” LaHood said.