Uvalde schools officer did nothing until it was too late during shooting, prosecutor says

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — In the crucial, chaotic minutes before a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, began firing inside an elementary school, a police officer now accused of failing to protect the children stood by without making a move to prevent the carnage, a prosecutor told a jury Tuesday.

School officer Adrian Gonzales arrived at the scene of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history while the teenage assailant was still outside the building. But he did not try to distract or engage him, even when a teacher pointed out the direction of the shooter, special prosecutor Bill Turner said during opening statements of a criminal trial.

The officer only went inside Robb Elementary “after the damage had been done,” Turner said.

Defense attorneys disputed the accusations that Gonzales — one of two officers charged in the aftermath of the 2022 attack — did nothing, saying he radioed for more help and evacuated children as other police arrived.

“The government makes it want to seem like he just sat there,” said defense attorney Nico LaHood. “He did what he could, with what he knew at the time.”

Prosecutors focused sharply on Gonzales’ steps in the minutes after the shooting began and as the first officers arrived. They did not address the hundreds of other...