Jury deliberating case of former Uvalde officer charged over response to 2022 school attack

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A jury began deliberating Wednesday in the trial of one of the first police officers on the scene of the Robb Elementary School attack in Uvalde, Texas, and prosecutors urged a conviction to send a message that law enforcement must fulfill their duty to protect when a gunman threatens children.

Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde schools officer, is the first officer to stand trial over the hesitant police response to the 2022 massacre, when a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

The trial is a rare case of a police officer charged with failing to stop a criminal act to protect lives.

“This is a failure to act case,” special prosecutor Bill Turner told jurors in closing statements.

Gonzales, he said, had a duty to act even if it meant entering the building alone to face the gunman.

“We’re expected to act differently when talking about a child that c...