Ex-Uvalde schools police officer pleads not guilty to charges of child endangerment and abandonment in 2022 massacre

One of the first officers who responded to the Uvalde school massacre in Texas pleaded not guilty Thursday to more than two dozen criminal counts.

One of the first officers who responded to the Uvalde school massacre in Texas pleaded not guilty Thursday to more than two dozen criminal counts. Former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officer Adrian Gonzales faces 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child in connection with the May 2022 slaughter that left 19 children and two teachers dead. If convicted, the state felony is punishable by up to two years behind bars. Gonzales was arraigned Thursday, more than two years after the deadliest school shooting in more than a decade. It took law enforcement 77 minutes after the gunman walked into Robb Elementary School to take him down. As victims lay dead or dying inside classrooms, officers were seen on video waiting outside in hallways. The botched response to the carnage has been described as an “abject failure,” with officials and experts blaming multiple entities. Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo are the only law enforcement officers to be indicted on criminal charges so far. According to Gonzales’ indictment, the former officer failed to “follow his active shooter training.”