Prosecutors on Tuesday rested in the trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer after more than a week of presenting a case to jurors that he failed in his duty to stop a gunman in the critical first minutes of the 2022 Robb Elementary School attack.
The prosecution called a state investigator as their final witness in the case against Adrian Gonzales, who has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts child abandonment or endangerment. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
It was unclear if Gonzales will take the stand in his own defense before the case goes to the jury.
His attorneys began their defense by calling to the stand a woman who worked across the street from the school who told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view — testimony that could reinforce Gonzales' claims that he never saw the gunman.
During nine days of testimony, jurors have heard at times gripping and emotional testimony from teachers who recounted the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman entered the school and killed 19 students and two teachers. Prosecutors have presented graphic photos from inside the classrooms and brought to the witness stand officers who described the chaos of the response.
At one point early in the trial, the sister of one of the teachers killed that day was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst after one of the officers testified.
The prosecution's case has tugged at the raw emotion and shock of the carnage of May 24, 2022, as they attempt to show what could have been avoided had Gonzales intercepted the gunman in the early seconds of the attack.
Prosecutors allege the 52-year-old Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.
