CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge seated a jury Monday in the trial of a former school police officer in Uvalde who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and has been charged with failing to protect children from the gunman.
Adrian Gonzales, one of the first officers to respond to the 2022 attack, is charged with 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment in a rare prosecution of an officer accused of not doing more to save lives. Authorities waited more than an hour to confront the teenage shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney has said the officer tried to save children that day.
The panel of 12 jurors and four alternates were seated Monday evening by Judge Sid Harle, after hundreds of prospective jurors were asked what they knew about the response and their impressions of what happened. The judge had said the court was not looking for jurors who knew nothing about the shooting but wanted those who could be impartial.
About 100 people were dismissed after saying they already formed opinions. One man said more officers should be on trial, while a teacher said she would throw herself in front of her students to protect them.