https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-trial-verdict-reached-case-former-school-police/story?id=129274833

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 Wednesday evening 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.

Lawyers for Gonzales, who pleaded not guilty, argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.

When he walked out of the courtroom on Wednesday night after the jury acquitted him, Gonzales was a man of few words.