Former school police officer Adrian Gonzales might have experienced “inattentive blindness,” one former SWAT officer argued Tuesday during the trial against Gonzales, who faces 29 charges of child endangerment for his alleged inaction during the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers.
Willie Cantu, a retired SWAT officer with the San Antonio police department, testified Tuesday for the defense that Gonzales may have experienced “tunnel vision” when he thought a teacher’s aide on campus was the threat.
“Unless you’ve experienced it, you don’t understand just how bad it can be,” Cantu said. “It causes an inattentive blindness. You get stressed. I’m late for work. And I need to find my keys to my car. I can’t find my keys. You have them in your hand. That’s inattentive blindness because you’re stressed.”
Evidence has shown that when Gonzales got word that there was someone near Robb Elementary with a gun, he drove from a nearby park to the south side of the campus and because he thought Melodye Flores, a teacher’s aide at Robb, was the threat. For about three minutes, the prosecution said, he was “standing there,” while the defense argued that he was gathering information from Flores and radioing it in. When Gonzales realized gunshots were coming from inside the school, he entered through the south side with three other police officers.
Prosecution has argued that those three minutes were critical and that Gonzales should have run toward the gunfire. The defense has argued, however, that Gonzales didn’t know at first where the gunfire was coming from, and entered the school as soon as he knew.
Cantu also testified that if he were in Gonzales’ position, he wouldn’t have immediately run toward the shooter. Instead, he would have hung back just a little in case the shooter decided to shoot and would approach the gunfire “as safely as possible.”
Cantu also testified that his skills as a SWAT officer were “perishable,” meaning if he didn’t exercise them regularly, he would lose them.
Jason Goss, one of Gonzales’ defense attorneys, pointed out that other officers on scene that day, including former Uvalde Police Sgt. Daniel Coronado, didn’t run toward the shooter. Instead, Coronado and Uvalde police officers Juan Saucedo and Jesus Mendoza drove around the campus after watching the shooter enter the school because they initially thought the shooter was trying to escape police. Goss said it was “a complete mistake about the intention of the person going into the school,” but noted that Gonzales, who is on trial, ran into the school and didn’t drive around it.
During cross-examination, the prosecution argued to Cantu that even though Gonzales might have been under stress, the teachers and students inside Robb Elementary were also under stress, yet they followed their training and immediately went into lockdown when they knew there was a threat on campus.
The defense also brought up Claudia Rodriguez, a secretary at a nearby funeral home, who said she saw the shooter hide between cars in the parking lot when Gonzales drove on campus.
The prosecution and defense rested their cases Tuesday. The judge sent the jury home and closing arguments will start Wednesday.