CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Opening statements began this morning in the trial of former Uvalde school resource officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse.
Prosecutors told the jury that Gonzales failed to act on his active shooter training and was not a rookie officer. They stated he could have distracted the shooter but instead "remained" — a word they used repeatedly throughout their opening statement.
Gonzales's defense team focused on the timeline from when the shooter crashed his car near the school to when several officers arrived. The defense attorney told the jury this trial would be emotional but urged them not to base their decision on emotion.
"I'm not saying this to scare you, but we talked about this in jury selection. None of us and you will not leave this trial the same and you just won't and thank you for taking on this role," defense attorney Nico Lahood said.
As the defense lawyer finished his opening statement with a list of all the things Gonzales did during the first few minutes of the shooting, Gonzales became visibly emotional.
After opening statements, the first witness called was Pastor Gilbert Limones, who works part-time at the funeral home across the street from the school. He described calling 911, walking out of the funeral home because he saw there was a crash outside. When he approached, the shooter started shooting at him and his coworker. He ran back and called 911 again to tell them the shooter was walking towards the school.
The 911 calls and video were shown in court, making Pastor Limones and the gallery emotional.
"I hung up with 911 and called my mom and I said mom, get into prayers someone is shooting at the children at the school," Limones said.
Three other witnesses appeared on the stand: Texas Ranger Jason Shae, who was the first DPS trooper to arrive at the scene; DPS Captain Justin Duck, who helped collect evidence from the shooter's truck; and a former third-grade teacher from Robb Elementary.
The trial will resume Thursday.
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