CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The arrival of Friday not only signaled the end of the workweek.
Friday was a reminder of the quick, methodical and sometimes emotional week of court proceedings in the trial of an ex-Uvalde school district police officer accused of endangering dozens of children nearly four full years ago.
Monday’s jury selection stretched well into the evening after the morning brought at least 450 prospective jurors to the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi.
The first full day of the Adrian Gonzales trial on Tuesday, turned up the temperature, at times, between the prosecution and the defense team representing Gonzales.
Gonzales’ team petitioned presiding Judge Sid Harle for a mistrial Wednesday, but he denied the motion less than 10 minutes after an afternoon hearing began.
Jurors on Thursday heard harrowing testimony from three Robb Elementary School employees — two teachers and a staffer — who described their encounters fleeing from the shooter, being wounded by gunfire or both.
Due to his response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Gonzales has been accused and charged with endangering the lives of 29 children on May 24, 2022.
Below is the timeline of events from Friday’s court proceedings in Corpus Christi.
9:02 a.m. - Jurors entered the courtroom.
When proceedings ended Thursday afternoon, special prosecutor Bill Turner was in the middle of a line of questioning with state witness Kevin Wright.
Wright, a Texas Ranger, responded to Robb Elementary School several hours after the shooting on May 24, 2022.
9:03 a.m. - Turner alerted the court that the state submitted additional photographs taken by Wright as evidence.
9:08 a.m. - The photos were officially admitted into the record as evidence.
Turner resumed questioning Wright.
9:09 a.m. - Those photos were shown to the court.
9:14 a.m. - In addition to the shooter’s gunfire, Wright said some of the school’s broken windows may have also been a result of teachers, students or staff escaping danger.
9:45 a.m. - Turner passed the witness.
9:46 a.m. - Nico LaHood, Adrian Gonzales’ lead defense attorney, began cross-examining Wright.
10:14 a.m. - LaHood passed the witness.
Turner resumed questioning Wright.
10:16 a.m. - Turner passed the witness back to the defense, who also passed the witness seconds later.
The state said it did not have any further questions for Wright. Wright was excused from the stand.
10:17 a.m. - The state called Juan Torrez, a former Texas Ranger, to the stand.
10:18 a.m. - Before Torrez’s swearing in, presiding Judge Sid Harle granted the court a 15-minute break.
11:17 a.m. - Before jurors returned, Harle addressed the attendees in the courtroom.
“Ladies and gentlemen who are in the gallery: you know, we’re very sensitive to the nature of this case — the emotional nature, the tragic nature of it," Harle said. “I’m going to forewarn you: these photographs are going to be shocking and gruesome. If anybody wants to step out, you are welcome to step out, but we cannot have any displays in front of the jury. So, I’m forewarning you: these are not going to be pleasant to look at. And, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to look at them — just like I had to. But, if you want to step out, you are welcome to."
The break, which took longer than anticipated, concluded.
11:18 a.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
Turner began questioning Torrez.
11:20 a.m. - Torrez said he previously responded to the crime scene of the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs, a Walmart in El Paso and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
He arrived in Uvalde “around 11 o’clock at night” on May 24, 2022.
11:21 a.m. - Torrez told the court he was assigned to be the “photographer” of Room 111, one of the classrooms where the shooter was inside and opened fire at Robb.
“When we got there, the room was in disarray,” Torrez said. “There were some markings in the room. There was a lot of shell casings. There was a lot of blood, a lot of blood swipes. The weapon was in the closet.”
11:22 a.m. - Torrez said he took a photo of the gunman’s weapon found in the closet.
11:23 a.m. - Torrez also recovered bullet fragments, bullets and “hellfire,” which is a trigger attached to the suspect’s weapon. The “hellfire” trigger system can make a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon.
11:24 a.m. - Before photos of the classroom were shown to the jury, co-defense attorney Jason Goss requested to approach Harle’s bench to discuss a matter.
Harle granted the request.
11:30 a.m. - The brief meeting at Harle’s bench concluded.
Torrez’s photos were shown to the court.
11:35 a.m. - A picture of Room 111’s front door at Robb Elementary School was shown to the court.
Torrez then began describing “bloody” photos from inside Room 111 to jurors. Due to their graphic nature, these photos were not shown on the livestream.
11:36 a.m. - “Initially, we went in as a team. Our team leader gave us a brief of the room,” Torrez said. “We tried to identify as many defects, as much evidence as we could identify, before we started marking or anything else. Then, I went in by myself and started doing the overall pictures on the entire room.”
11:42 a.m. - Torrez described a photo of the classroom which included a “tennis shoe covered in blood.”
“The children were all removed before you took any photographs. Is that correct?” Turner asked Torrez.
“That’s correct,” Torrez said.
Torrez agreed with Turner when he said a “preponderance of the blood” was found in the ”farthest from the windows as well as farthest from the door” inside Room 111.
11:51 a.m. - While it was not clear what prompted the motion, the defense asked the court to declare a mistrial. Harle denied the request.
The denied request was Harle’s second ruling within the first four days of Gonzales’ trial.
12:15 p.m. - Torrez said the shell casings were gathered and determined which casings belonged to law enforcement and which casings belonged to the shooter.
12:23 p.m. - Torrez said he was in Uvalde for three days before he was sent back to El Paso.
He also revealed the “hellfire” trigger system was not recovered during Torrez’s time taking photos.
12:24 p.m. - Turner passed the witness.
12:25 p.m. - Harle instituted a lunch break for jurors. Proceedings are expected to resume at approximately 1:45 p.m.
1:47 p.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
Goss began cross-examining Torrez.
2:02 p.m. - Goss showed a picture of Room 111’s front door.
2:03 p.m. - He asked Torrez if he had attempted to lock the classroom’s door throughout his time taking photos of the room.
“I believe we did,” Torrez told the court.
“And were you able to lock it?” Goss asked.
“I don’t remember. I think ... since I wasn’t messing with the door, and I was just taking photos, I don’t know,” Torrez said.
2:23 p.m. - Goss passed the witness. Turner resumed questioning of Torrez.
2:25 p.m. - Turner passed the witness back to the defense.
Goss asked Torrez a question about a “fatal funnel,” which is law enforcement terminology regarding the safe passage of officers through an entrance where a suspect may be on the other end of a door, for example.
“You know all law enforcement is taught to be very cautious about a fatal funnel because a dead police officer doesn’t help anybody, right?” Goss asked.
“Correct,” Torrez responded.
“One police officer after another going in and dying and stacking up in front of that door is not going to save anybody’s children,” Goss said.
“We’re taught to get away from the fatal funnel,” Torrez said.
Goss passed the witness. The state had no further questions.
Torrez was excused from the stand.
2:26 p.m. - The state and defense team approached Harle’s bench for a brief meeting.
2:29 p.m. - The brief meeting concluded.
The state called Brent Barina, a Texas Ranger lieutenant, to the stand.
2:30 p.m. - Barina said he was called to Uvalde to investigate “different sections of the interior of the crime scene” on May 24, 2022. He also said he investigated Room 24 at the school.
2:31 p.m. - “Myself and (fellow Texas) Ranger Scott Swick had noticed there was some cartridge cases flagged. I guess, we would have been to the south of the main building, where the shooting occurred,” Barina said. “It indicated that there might have been some shots fired toward Building (Room) 24. So, we went in that area and started inspecting some buildings in that area.”
While inspecting the area, Barina said he did find a structure with a bullet defect.
“It visually looked like one,” Barina said. “Then, we used what we call a 3M LeadCheck. It’s a swab that you can test for lead. It has an activator and a dye that mixes. When it’s swabbed on to a surface that has lead, it’ll give kind of a pinkish, purple-color reaction.”
Barina documented the test results with photographs.
2:32 p.m. - Turner asked Barina handed him photographs and asked him if he recognized them.
2:33 p.m. - “Yes. I do,” Barina answered.
2:42 p.m. - Turner asked Harle if he could approach the bench. Harle granted the request.
2:44 p.m. - Harle instituted a short break. A hearing was held without the presence of jurors. It is unclear what was discussed.
2:52 p.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
2:53 p.m. - Barina said he also went inside Room 111 after the shooting on May 24, 2022.
“The time I got there, when I was in (Room) 111, the only body inside (Room) 111 was the body of the suspect,” Barina told the court.
2:55 p.m. - Barina also told jurors that he went inside Room 112, as well.
“When you walk in the main entry door from the hallway, there was a lot of death that were kind of clustered up — scattered around,” Barina said. “And then, there was a concentration of deceased bodies kind of in that northwest corner of the room.”
He said there were “children and one adult” were among the bodies.
2:56 p.m. - Turner passed the witness. LaHood began cross-examining Barina.
3:08 p.m. - LaHood passed the witness to the state. Turner resumed questioning Barina.
3:10 p.m. - Turner passed the witness. LaHood cross-examined Barina again.
3:16 p.m. - LaHood passed the witness. Turned began another line of questioning.
3:20 p.m. - After passing the witness back and forth, both sides had no further questions for him.
3:21 p.m. - Barina was excused from the stand. The prosecution and the defense met at Harle’s bench for a brief meeting.
3:24 p.m. - The meeting concluded.
3:25 p.m. - The prosecution called Dr. Garrett Phillips, the deputy chief medical examiner with the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, to the stand.
Turner began a line of questioning.
3:31 p.m. - Phillips said the Bexar County ME’s Office’s help was requested for this case.
“We were able to fulfill that request,” Phillips said.
3:35 p.m. - Phillips described the causes and manners of death for each of the 21 victims killed in the shooting.
3:54 p.m. - Phillips described the autopsy report for Eliahna Garcia, a 9-year-old killed in the shooting.
“In this case, there were five gunshot wounds,” Phillips said, in part. “The skull was fractured.” Injuries to her head also included an arachnoid hemorrhage, which is a type of bleeding in the brain.
4:02 p.m. - Turner passed the witness.
Goss thanked Phillips for his efforts in this case and passed the witness.
The state and defense team did not have any further questions. Phillips was excused from the stand.
4:03 p.m. - Harle instituted another break. Jurors exited the courtroom.
4:19 p.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
4:20 p.m. - Autopsy photos of the victims were shown to the court.
4:21 p.m. - The state and the defense team met at Harle’s bench for a brief meeting.
4:23 p.m. - The meeting concluded.
Jennifer Garcia, the mother of Eliahna Garcia, was called to the stand.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell, on behalf of the prosecution, began questioning Garcia.
4:24 p.m. - Garcia said she dropped her daughter and went home to get ready for an “awards ceremony” on May 24, 2022.
“She did (receive an award),” Garcia said, in part. “It was a ‘helping’ kind of student award.”
4:25 p.m. - Garcia said she left her daughter at school that day.
“She wanted to come home,” Garcia told the court. “She asked if she could come home, but I told her, ‘No. Just stay in school.’ ... They were all going to pitch in for pizza and have, like, a fun day kind of thing. ... I told her I would pick her up later.”
4:26 p.m. - Garcia said a neighbor suggested she to get back to Robb Elementary School “ASAP.”
“They believe there’s a shooter at the school,” Garcia said, in part. “There was just chaos.”
4:27 p.m. - Garcia said she “just had to wait” for updates until she learned the unthinkable.
“I want to say we were the second (or) third-to-last parents (to find out about her daughter’s death),” Garcia said through tears.
4:28 p.m. - Mitchell passed the witness. The defense had no questions for Garcia.
4:29 p.m. - Garcia was excused from the stand.
4:30 p.m. - Harle concluded court proceedings for the day. The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Monday.
Background
Gonzales, 52, is one of two now-former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officers charged with child endangerment regarding the law enforcement response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. Gonzales is facing 29 child endangerment charges: 19 represent the children killed in the shooting, and the other 10 represent the children injured in the shooting.
An 18-year-old gunman also killed two teachers at the school on May 24, 2022.
The other officer, former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, has yet to go to trial in his child endangerment case. Arredondo is facing 10 child endangerment charges.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell is prosecuting the Gonzales case, but she appointed Bill Turner as special prosecutor. Turner was the former district attorney in Brazos County.
San Antonio-area attorney and former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood leads Gonzales’ defense team. The team is rounded out by fellow attorneys Jason Goss and Gary Hillier.
In August 2025, Gonzales requested a venue change for the trial.
In the motion, Gonzales’ defense team argued that he cannot receive a fair trial by a jury in Uvalde County due to the impact the massacre had on members of the community.
“This horrific tragedy touched every member of the Uvalde community,” LaHood said at the time. “It would be impossible to gather a jury that would not view the evidence through their own pain and grief.”
In October 2025, LaHood confirmed to KSAT that the trial venue was changed from Uvalde County to Nueces County.
The state is expected to call approximately 60 witnesses to the stand. Court records indicate some of those asked to be witnesses include the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, officers from other responding law enforcement agencies, medical personnel and some parents of school shooting victims.
Child endangerment charges are considered a state jail felony. Upon a potential conviction, Gonzales could be sentenced between six months and two years in a state jail.
Judge Sid Harle is the presiding judge in this case. If convicted, Gonzales also elected to have Harle determine his sentence instead of the jury.
More coverage of the Adrian Gonzales trial on KSAT: