The first pretrial conference of former school officers Pete Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales took place in Uvalde on Monday afternoon. The pair were set to appear in an evidentiary pretrial conference on Dec. 19 at 10:00 a.m.
Earlier this year, former chief of police Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales pleaded not guilty to a combined 39 charges of child endangerment for their roles in the botched response to the Robb Elementary shooting in 2022.
Arredondo’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss his charges earlier this month, claiming that the school children and teachers were already in danger before he arrived.
This marks the first time that Arredondo has appeared in court and faced the victims' families after he chose to waive his in-person arraignment in July.
Nikki and Brett Cross, who lost their 10-year-old son Uziyah, and Monica Gallegos, who lost her 10-year-old daughter Annabell Rodriguez in the shooting, sat in the front row of the small, packed courtroom.
Jesse Rizo, a newly elected UCISD board member and uncle to 9-year-old shooting victim Jackie Cazares, explained what it was like to see Arredondo in person.
"I saw Gonzales the last time around. Coming head to head with Arredondo — seeing him outside as I was walking in — was nerve-wracking. It was very emotional," Rizo said.
Former District Attorney Christina Mitchell approached the families two separate times and asked if they had questions.
After Mitchell refused to answer a question by parent Reuben Torres, the two exchanged a back and forth that led to the Uvalde police removing Torres from the courtroom.
Torres’ daughter Khloie was one of the survivors trapped inside the classroom with the gunman as the police waited 77 minutes before finally confronting him.
Arredondo was represented by attorney Paul Looney, who recently joined him in an interview on CNN, during which they claimed Arredondo was being scapegoated. Gonzales was represented by attorney Nico Lahood. He has not made any public statements.
@texaspublicradio The first pretrial conference of former school officers Pete Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales took place in Uvalde on Monday afternoon. The pair are set to appear in an evidentiary pretrial conference on December 19th at 10:00 a.m. Earlier this year, former chief of police Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales pled not guilty to a combined 39 charges of child endangerment for their roles in the botched response to the Robb Elementary shooting in 2022. Arredondo’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss his charges earlier this month, claiming that the school children and teachers were already in danger before he arrived. This marks the first time that Arredondo has appeared in court and faced the victim’s families after he chose to waive his in-person arraignment in July. Parents Nikki and Brett Cross who lost their 10-year-old son Uziyah, and mother Monica Gallegos who lost her 10-year-old daughter Annabell Rodriguez in the shooting sat in the front row of the small but packed courtroom. Last week, CBP published an internal report that absolved their officers of legal wrongdoing in their response to the shooting that saw 19 children and 2 teachers killed. The report also acknowledged the failures and included several recommendations for improvement. Get the whole story at tpr.org :black_nib: Kayla Padilla / TPR :video_camera: Gabriella Alcorta-Solorio / TPR :scissors: Gideon Rogers / TPR
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Lahood said prior investigations into the law enforcement response to the shooting did not suggest litigation was necessary against Gonzales.
"There's been two thorough investigations, one by the Texas House and one by the DOJ, and neither of those investigations that were thorough and complete suggested prosecuting Adrian Gonzales. So that's something I think people need to understand," he added.
Visiting Judge Sid Harle did not rule on a motion filed by Looney to throw out Arredondo’s criminal charges. Prosecutor Bill Turner, who represented Mitchell, told Harle that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not complied with their request to hand over evidence related to the shooting.
Harle encouraged Turner to reach out to CBP again and collect the evidence before the December hearing.
Last week, CBP published an internal report that absolved their officers of legal wrongdoing in their response to the shooting that saw 19 children and two teachers killed. The report also acknowledged the failures and included several recommendations for improvement.
Arredondo and Gonzales hugged at the end of the hearing. As they were leaving, family members of the victims surrounded their cars demanding that the former officers look at them. The families yelled the word “cowards” at the officers when they refused to make eye contact and remained silent.
