Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the Uvalde school shooting.
ByPeter Charalambous and Jim Scholz
Closing arguments underway in Uvalde school shooting trial for former officer
Closing arguments underway in Uvalde school shooting trial for former officerFormer Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales faces 29 charges in connection with the May 24, 2022, shooting. ABC News’ Peter Charalambous reports.
Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP
A jury has acquitted former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales for his response to the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022.
After more than seven hours of deliberations, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all 29 counts of child endangerment.
As the verdict was read, Gonzalez bowed his head as he heard it. Several of those sitting in the gallery started crying. He hugged his lawyers, shook hands and appeared to be tearing up.
Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the mass shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage.
Prosecutors alleged Gonzales did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.
Each count carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and Gonzales could have spent the rest of his life in prison if he was convicted.
Prosecutors claimed Gonzales had a unique opportunity to stop the carnage when he arrived and learned gunman Salvador Ramos’ location from a teaching aide. The aide testified that she repeatedly urged Gonzales to intervene, but said the officer did “nothing” in those crucial moments. Prosecutors also argued Gonzales failed to act once he got inside the school.
Uvalde school shooting trial: Judge allows jurors to deliberate late into the night
Before jurors were sent to deliberate, District Attorney Christina Mitchell gave an impassioned plea, saying, “I know this case is difficult, and it has been difficult. But we cannot continue to let children die in vain.”
“What happened to Uvalde on May 24 can happen anywhere, at any time,” she said. “If it’s going to happen, and if we have laws mandating what the responsibility of a law enforcement peace officer is for a school district, then we better be ready to back it up.”
Gonzales pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.
The defense argued that Gonzales did everything he could in that moment — including gathering critical information, evacuating children and entering the school — and said Gonzales acted on the information he had. The defense also highlighted that other officers arrived in the same timeframe as Gonzales and that at least one officer had an opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school.
This case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting.
Uvalde school shooting timeline: Prosecutors say officers arrived before gunman entered building
In 2023, a Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, who was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson’s lawyers argued his role as an armed school resource officer did not amount to a caregiving post needed to prove child neglect in Florida, and that the response to the shooting was muddled by poor communication.
Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo — who was the on-site commander on the day of the Robb Elementary shooting — is also charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.
Trump announces ‘framework’ for a future deal on Greenland, drops NATO tariff threat
Trump hasn’t said if U.S. ownership of the island territory is part of the deal.
ByLalee Ibssa and Michelle Stoddart
Trump says ‘framework of a future deal’ on Greenland has been formed
Trump says ‘framework of a future deal’ on Greenland has been formedPresident Donald Trump announced on social media that a framework for a deal on Greenland has been formed and said he will stand down on imposing tariffs that were set to go in effect in February.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte have “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” and as a result he will not be imposing the tariffs he threatened on European allies who didn’t agree to his takeover efforts.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st,” the president added.
His post did not provide further details on the “framework” for Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Trump continued to be light on specifics during interviews with CNBC and CNN, particularly on whether the U.S. would have ownership of Greenland as he’s demanded.
“Well, we have a concept of a deal. I think it’s going to be very good deal for the United States, also for them, and we’re going to work together on something having to do with the Arctic as a whole, but also Greenland, and it has to do with the security, great security, strong security and other things,” Trump said on CNBC.
When pressed on whether U.S. ownership of Greenland was involved, Trump said he “didn’t want to say yet” and it was “complex.”
On CNN, Trump said the U.S. got “everything we wanted.”
“It’s the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else,” Trump said.
He also told CNN the deal would be “infinite,” saying: “It’s a deal that’s forever.”
In an interview on Fox News later Wednesday, Rutte said the discussions with Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland focused on Arctic security.
“How can we collectively make sure that we defend that Arctic region, therefore implementing his vision of that necessity, and he’s totally right there, because we know that the region is opening up more and more,” Rutte said. “The sea lanes are opening up more and more for the Russians and the Chinese and other adversaries to be active there, which is potentially a threat.”
Asked whether Greenland would remain a Danish territory, the NATO chief said it was outside his purview.
“That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president,” Rutte said.
A NATO spokesperson told ABC News that trilateral talks between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark are ongoing. Earlier Wednesday, while speaking at the world Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump notably ruled out using military force to take control of Greenland.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that,” Trump said in his remarks.
Still, Trump argued no other country can defend Greenland but the United States and said he wanted “immediate negotiations” on the issue.
“All we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it. You can’t defend it on a lease. No. 1, legally it’s not defensible that way, totally. And No. 2, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease which is a large piece of ice in the middle of the ocean, where, if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice,” Trump said.
As part of his Greenland push, Trump last week announced a new 10% tariff rate against eight European nations would go into effect next month. Those levies would later be increased to 25% until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland, the president said.
Those threats resulted in European officials on Wednesday suspending a trade agreement with the U.S. worked out last summer.
ABC News’ Chris Boccia contributed to this report.
