Jurors in Uvalde were abruptly sent home on Tuesday after a former teacher's account of what she saw during the 2022 Robb Elementary massacre suddenly shifted on the stand, reports Fox News. Ex-school police officer Adrian Gonzales is on trial on 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment, accused of failing to act quickly enough as a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran with active-shooter training, has pleaded not guilty and faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
The trial interruption came when ex-teacher Stephanie Hale testified she saw the shooter on the south side of the school's campus—the same area where Gonzales was posted, according to Texas Public Radio. Defense lawyers objected, saying that differed from what Hale told a Texas Ranger in 2022; Tuesday's testimony allegedly placed the shooter closer to Gonzales. Both the Texas Tribune and ABC News note that, per prosecutors, Hale had never previously mentioned seeing the shooter approaching, or being shot at.
With that dispute on the record, the judge dismissed the jury until Thursday while attorneys prepare arguments over Hale's testimony, per Fox. The defense has raised the prospect of a mistrial. Prosecutors say Gonzales arrived while the teenage gunman was still outside, yet failed to move in even after a teacher pointed out the shooter's location, only entering the school minutes later "after the damage had been done."
The indictment accuses him of putting children in immediate danger by not confronting, distracting, or otherwise delaying the attacker and by ignoring his own training to advance toward gunfire. Defense attorney Nico LaHood countered that Gonzales was dealing with a chaotic and confusing scene and worked to evacuate children as more officers arrived: "He did what he could, with what he knew at the time."
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