‘It felt like forever’: Former Robb Elementary teacher who survived shooting testifies in ex-Uvalde CISD officer’s trial

Jurors returned to the courtroom Monday for the fifth day of the Adrian Gonzales trial.

Proceedings ended with the testimony of Arnulfo Reyes, a former Robb Elementary School fourth grade teacher who was shot multiple times by the 18-year-old gunman and survived.

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.

The timeline of events from Friday’s court proceedings in Corpus Christi can be found here.

Below is the timeline of Monday’s court proceedings from the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi.

9:03 a.m. – Jurors entered the courtroom.

9:04 a.m. – The prosecuted called Terry Snyder to the stand. Snyder is a Texas Ranger with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Bill Turner, a special prosecutor assigned by Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell to this case, began a line of questioning.

9:08 a.m. – As a part of the Texas Rangers’ crime scene team, Snyder said he was dispatched to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022. He told the court he arrived at the school at “around 5:30 that afternoon.”

9:09 a.m. – Snyder said he was assigned to help with “identifying and removing bodies from (Rooms) 111 and 112 (at Robb Elementary School).”

According to Snyder, investigators were able to identify the victims based on “clothing or what they were wearing or by the class roster that was within the classroom.”

9:10 a.m. – On the following day — May 25, 2022 — Snyder said he and another Texas Ranger were tasked with identifying “and mark cartridge cases that were in the hallways of the school.”

9:13 a.m. – Turner showed Snyder several photos from inside Robb Elementary School. He then asked Snyder if the photos were “fair and accurate representations of your work in the hallways of Robb Elementary.”

“Yes, sir. They are,” Snyder said.

9:19 a.m. – Photos were shown to the court. Per presiding Judge Sid Harle’s order, some of these photos were not shown on the livestream due to their graphic nature.

9:25 a.m. – Other photos shown to the court included a shell casing and an unidentified law enforcement officer’s body-worn camera that fell off the rest of their gear.

9:34 a.m. – Photos of fired cartridge casings were shown to the court.

“And are these all belong(ing) to a rifle?” Turner asked Snyder.

“That’s correct. Yes,” Snyder said.

9:40 a.m. – Snyder said some casings recovered from the school belonged to law enforcement while others came from the shooter.

9:42 a.m. – Turner passed the witness. The defense, specifically Adrian Gonzales’ co-defense attorney Gary Hillier, began cross-examining Snyder.

9:50 a.m. – Hillier asked Snyder about “the west door” that was unlocked, the door through which the gunman entered the school.

“If that door had been locked, that might have changed things, right?” Hillier asked Snyder.

“Obviously. Yes,” Snyder answered.

9:58 a.m. – Hillier asked Snyder about a “fatal funnel” concept in law enforcement, which — according to Hillier — “an open space where there’s no cover and it’s difficult to tactically move.”

9:59 a.m. – “It’s an extremely dangerous situation for a law enforcement person, and all military, entering that fatal funnel?” Hiller asked.

“Sure,” Snyder said.

“And you’d agree with me that a fatal funnel could be an open doorway, right?” Hillier asked.

“Sure,” Snyder said.

“It could be a stairwell?” Hillier asked.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

“But it could also be a corridor, a hallway. Right?” Hillier asked.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

10 a.m. – Under the premise of a hypothetical situation, Hillier asked Snyder if “anyone entering this (the school) is entering a fatal funnel?”

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

10:01 a.m. – Hillier passed the witness back to the prosecution. Turner resumed questioning Snyder.

“If you can’t see what you’re shooting at, as a police officer, you don’t shoot. Is that correct?” Turner asked.

“Correct,” Snyder said. “We are trained to identify our target.”

“Identify your target before you shoot?” Turner asked.

“Correct,” Snyder said.

“And so, if you hear shooting on a schoolground — but you can’t see where the shooting’s coming from — you don’t shoot?” Turner asked.

“Correct,” Snyder said.

“So, you just stand where you are?” Turner asked.

“Typically, I mean, through the information gathered, if we know where the shooter is — we have to identify our target is before we shoot. Yes,” Snyder said.

“And how do you identify where your target is?” Turner asked.

“You have to find where the shooting’s coming from,” Snyder said.

10:02 a.m. – Turner asked Snyder if finding where the shooting originated is something “you can just take your time to do or is it an immediate action.”

“You make a tactical approach to where the shooting’s occurred,” Snyder said.

Turner then asked Snyder if “time of the essence” in an active shooter situation.

“Absolutely,” Snyder said.

“That is: the longer the time in an active shooting, the more victims you can have?” Turner asked.

“Correct,” Snyder said.

“So, when an officer hears shooting but can’t see shooting, what does the officer do?” Turner asked.

“Runs to the shooting,” Snyder said. “Where we tactically approach to where the shooting is occurring.”

10:05 a.m. – Turner asked Snyder, if called upon, if he would “go in” to face the danger of a potential active shooter situation.

“100%. Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

“But it’s dangerous,” Turner said.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

“And you know that?” Turner asked.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

“When you became a police officer, did you know you might be in dangerous situations?” Turner asked.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

10:08 a.m. – Turner passed the witness. Hillier resumed cross-examining Snyder.

10:09 a.m. – Snyder told the court he was at the crime scene for “three days” before he was “rotated out.”

10:16 a.m. – The defense submitted photos to the court as evidence.

10:17 a.m. – The state had no objections to the photos, which meant the pictures became a part of the court record.

10:20 a.m. – Hillier began asking Snyder about “moving tactically” during an active shooter situation.

“You’re familiar with ‘slicing the pie’?” Hillier asked Snyder.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

Hillier created a tactical scenario where “slicing the pie” would be a relevant tactic for a law enforcement officer in a sample photo from the school.

10:21 a.m. – “If someone were to hear the report of gunfire over here (in the area of the above photo), the correct way to approach it would be to take cover along this (brick) wall here. Right?” Hillier asked.

“Potentially one way,” Snyder said.

“One way?” Hillier said.

“You just can’t see what else is out here in this vacant lot,” Snyder said. “As far as any other potential concealment or cover to make a wider approach.”

“And we see a little thin tree there (in the above photo). That is a tree?” Hillier asked Snyder.

“Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

“But it’s not a substantial tree?” Hillier asked.

“Correct,” Snyder said.

“That would be possibly concealment?” Hillier asked.

“Potentially. Yes, sir,” Snyder said.

If confronted with a “long, barrel” weapon, Snyder agreed with Hillier that the “thin” tree would not be sufficient “cover” to shield a human body from such a weapon.

10:23 a.m. – “A person would come up on the corner, right? And just ‘slicing the pie.’ It’s like cutting slices off of a pie,” Hillier said to Snyder while imitating the act of holding a weapon. “That’s why it’s called ‘slicing a pie.’ Take a little bit off a pie, a little bit more, a little bit more. Until, eventually, you’re clearing a little bit at a time. So, you come here, and you can see what’s going on ahead of you. … As you’re going further, you cutting the slice off a pie to go further and further and further. Keep cutting the pie until, eventually, you can see down the other end of it. Right?”

“Correct,” Snyder said.

“That’s what ‘slicing the pie’ is,” Hillier said.

10:36 a.m. – Snyder told Hillier he was “not aware” that Gonzales entered the “fatal funnel” where the shooter was. Hillier also said one of Gonzales’ colleagues “was shot in the head.”

10:37 a.m. – Hillier passed the witness. Turner resumed questioning of Snyder.

10:38 a.m. – Turner passed the witness. The defense said it did not have any further questions for him.

Snyder was excused from the stand. Harle instituted a short break for jurors.

Jurors exited the courtroom.

11:19 a.m. – Jurors reentered the courtroom. During the break, Harle said the state and the defense held a hearing without the jurors’ presence.

11:20 a.m. – At this time, it is unclear what was said during the hearing.

The state called Scott Swick, a Texas Ranger with the Texas Department of Public Safety, to the stand.

Turner began a line of questioning.

11:21 a.m. – After responding to the school, Swick said he was tasked with searching “Room 112.”

11:22 a.m. – Some photos, which were discussed by the state and defense outside the presence of the jury, were shown to the court.

11:30 a.m. – Graphic photos Swick took of the scene were shown to the court. Per Harle’s order, some of these photos were not shown on the livestream due to their graphic nature.

11:37 a.m. – Swick said it appeared the gunman used “a new magazine that has unfired cartridges into it and then put it into battery or put a round into the chamber.”

“Did you find more than 30 casings in this room (Room 112)?” Turner asked Swick.

“Yes, sir,” Swick said.

11:38 a.m. – Swick believed a magazine had been changed for the gunman’s weapon while he was in the classroom.

11:58 a.m. – Harle instituted a lunch break for jurors. Proceedings were expected to resume at approximately 1:30 p.m.

1:34 p.m. – Jurors reentered the courtroom.

1:35 p.m. – Nico LaHood, Gonzales’ lead defense attorney, began cross-examining Swick.

LaHood asked Swick about specialty training among different law enforcement officers.

“Within the Texas Ranger division, we have certain Rangers that have gone on to additional and more advanced shooting reconstructions schools,” Swick said. “Me, myself, I’m one of the instructors for the blood-stained pattern analysis program. I’ve had additional training in that realm of things.

“We all have the same foundational training, if you will,” Swick continued. “And then, from there, go on to different things, if that’s what it calls for.”

1:36 p.m. – Swick told the court he has not responded to an active shooting situation while it was in progress.

Swick has, however, investigated “mass casualty” events before.

1:40 p.m. – LaHood and Swick discussed the “tactical way” for approaching a potential “fatal funnel” situation.

1:41 p.m. – LaHood pulled out an orange practice gun to perform a courtroom demonstration.

1:43 p.m. – “When you point the barrel at somebody (seen in the above photo) and that means that if the barrel’s pointed at somebody — even if your index (finger is on it) — at some point, it could go off,” LaHood said.

“Correct,” Swick said.

“And so, when you tactically enter a room or situation, you have to make sure that you’re safe — so you can engage the threat — but also make sure that other people are safe because I’m not going to go in sweeping people. Under pressure, there might be an accidental discharge.”

“Yes, sir,” Swick agreed.

1:45 p.m. – In another courtroom demonstration to describe the difference between “concealment” and “cover,” LaHood placed two large white poster boards on top of each other.

According to Swick, concealment refers to hiding oneself behind an object but “may not stop a projectile.” Covering refers to hiding oneself behind an object “that you would expect to potentially stop a projectile.”

LaHood hid behind the poster boards.

“Can you see me?” LaHood asked Swick.

“No,” Swick said.

“Am I covered or concealed?” LaHood asked Swick.

“You’re concealed in this circumstance,” Swick told the court.

1:46 p.m. – LaHood, while in the middle of the above demonstration with the practice gun aimed, explained “slicing the pie.”

“You’re ‘slicing’ your visual,” LaHood said, in part, while walking slowly. “I see some of the jurors and I’m, little by little, ‘slicing’ this room. And you can’t see what I’m doing, but they (the jury) can see. And they can see, little by little, they see me as time goes on. So, I am ‘slicing the pie’ and checking for any threats, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Swick said.

2:03 p.m. – LaHood passed the witness. Turner resumed a line of questioning.

2:10 p.m. – Turner passed the witness. LaHood resume cross-examining Swick.

2:25 p.m. – If the door the shooter entered the school in was locked, LaHood asked Swick if it “would (have) stopped that animal” from entering the school.

“If that door is locked, once again, he might not have been able to get in through that door, but I can’t speak to any other doors that might have been unlocked,” Swick said.

2:26 p.m. – LaHood passed the witness. Turner resumed a line of questioning.

2:30 p.m. – Turner passed the witness. LaHood resumed cross-examining Swick.

2:32 p.m. – LaHood passed the witness. The state said it did not have any further questions.

Swick was excused from the stand.

2:34 p.m. – The state called Roberto Montalvo, a Texas Ranger with the Texas Department of Public Safety, to the stand.

2:35 p.m. – Montalvo said he was notified about the May 24, 2022, shooting at around noon on that day. He told the court he arrived in Uvalde at approximately “5:30 (p.m.)-ish.”

2:36 p.m. – On his way to the school, Montalvo said he was “redirected” by a lieutenant to assist a fellow Texas Ranger at a hospital in Uvalde. While at the hospital, Montalvo helped identify victims of the shooting, which included Jose Flores and Jackie Cazares.

2:39 p.m. – One week after the shooting, Montalvo said he was assigned to return to the school and “collect some items” after the initial processing of the crime scene within Rooms 111 and 112.

“One of the items was in Room 111: a hellfire trigger snap-on device,” Montalvo said. “And, in Room 112, was two spent cartridge casings.”

3:50 p.m. – Montalvo was excused from the stand.

Harle instituted a short break for jurors. The jury left the courtroom.

4:06 p.m. – Jurors reentered the courtroom.

4:07 p.m. – Jim Klaeveman, a former Uvalde CISD electronics technician and security coordinator, was called by the prosecution to the stand. At the request of the court, Klaeveman’s face was not shown on the trial’s livestream.

Turner began a line of questioning.

4:21 p.m. – Klaeveman said he planned to get his car worked on before he returned to work.

“Initially, I met and had to give right of way to several emergency vehicles departing from the police department (on the way to the car inspection station),” Klaeveman said. “My first initial thought, ‘Maybe another bailout.’ We had been having a lot of those at the time. I continued on to the inspection station.”

4:22 p.m. – Upon arrival at the car inspection station, Klaeveman said he turned on one of his district radios that he always carried with him on work days.

“I realized that we had a serious problem,” Klaeveman said.

4:25 p.m. – Turner passed the witness.

4:26 p.m. – Jason Goss, one of Gonzales’ co-defense attorneys, thanked Klaeveman for his work on that day before he passed the witness.

Klaeveman was excused from the stand.

4:27 p.m. – The state began playing hallway video of the May 24, 2022, shooting in front of jurors. The video was not shown on the trial’s livestream, but audio from the video was heard on the livestream.

4:30 p.m. – The 911 call from former school staffer Emilia “Amy” Franco Marin was played before the court.

4:38 p.m. – The audio and video ended.

4:40 p.m. – The state called former Robb Elementary School fourth grade teacher Arnulfo Reyes to the stand. At the request of the court, Reyes’ face was not shown on the trial’s livestream.

Turner began a line of questioning.

4:41 p.m. – Reyes said he taught in Room 111 at the school. The room was joined to Room 112 where fellow teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles taught.

Garcia and Mireles were killed in the shooting.

Turner asked Reyes about how May 24, 2022 — the day of the Robb Elementary School shooting — started.

“It started like any other day,” Reyes said. “Just a normal day to go to school.”

4:42 p.m. – Reyes said his class was waiting to be called to the school’s cafeteria for a 10:30 a.m. “awards ceremony.”

“The awards ceremony is when kids get awards for special things they can do and achieve,” Reyes said. “We give them awards for special things.”

4:43 p.m. – After the awards ceremony, Reyes said he and his students returned to their classroom.

“After we got back to the classroom, we resumed doing what we were doing before we went to the ceremony,” Reyes said. “So, everybody went back to their spots, and we just resumed what we were doing.”

Reyes’ class was watching a movie with the lights “off,” which meant most of the desks were “gathered together in the middle of the classroom.”

“The kids were on the other side of that,” Reyes said. “They were watching the movie on the big TV that we have.”

4:44 p.m. – While his students watched the movie, Reyes said he was “entering grades into the computer” at his desk “in a corner” and “doing things that needed to be done before the year’s over.”

4:45 p.m. – Reyes said his desk was positioned “in a corner” near the entry to the doorway.

“I heard a noise, but it was kind of far,” Reyes said. “But it was still loud.”

“Did you recognize the noise?” Turner asked Reyes.

“No, I didn’t,” Reyes told the court. “It sounded like books when you bang them on the floor. That’s what it sounded like, but it was kind of far.”

Turner asked Reyes how many times he heard that specific sound.

“I would say, maybe, like, five, six times — around there,” Reyes said. “And as I heard it, it kept on getting closer and closer. But it still seemed distant anyways.”

4:46 p.m. – At that point, Reyes said he still couldn’t recognize the sound.

“I kept on going, doing my thing, and the kids kept on doing their thing,” Reyes said. “It was quiet. And then — as we were there — they started again: the loud sounds (were) more constant. They were just very close now.”

4:47 p.m. – As the noise neared, Turner asked Reyes if it “changed his mind about it (the sound) being books.”

“It took me awhile to process that,” Reyes said. “It did change my mind that it wasn’t books, but I didn’t know what it was still.”

Reyes told jurors that the sounds grew louder as he sat at his desk.

“For some reason, I looked at the wall that’s across from me — which would be facing Room 112,” Reyes said. “Then I saw pieces of the wall, or some objects, falling. Not too sure if it was sheetrock or what it was, but something was falling off the wall. At that same time, I had a student come and ask me, ‘What’s going on?’”

4:48 p.m. – “And what did you say?” Turner asked Reyes.

“I told her, I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on,’” Reyes said. “And then I told my kids to go ahead and get under the table where we’ve always practiced to go when we’re on lockdown.”

4:49 p.m. – Reyes said his classroom has a “long table” where the children hid when they previously practiced going on lockdown.

Reyes got up from his desk and planned to hide himself from view.

“That is when I looked at my door, and that’s where I saw him,” Reyes said.

4:50 p.m. – ″What did you see?“ Turner asked Reyes.

“A black shadow,” Reyes said.

“What was the black shadow doing?” Turner asked Reyes.

“The black shadow was holding a gun,” Reyes said. “And I know that he was holding a gun because I just saw the fire come out of the gun.”

Reyes, who told the court he was standing when he saw the shooter, was first shot in his left arm.

“That’s when I fell to the ground,” Reyes said. “After I fell onto the ground, he came around, and he shot the kids.”

4:51 p.m. – Reyes told the court he heard “a lot” of gunshots go off in his classroom.

“I couldn’t tell you how many,” Reyes said.

4:52 p.m. – Reyes said then he heard a student in Room 112 call out for help.

“When he (the shooter) went to the other classroom (Room 112) was when a student from that classroom said, ‘Officer, come in here. We’re in here,’” Reyes recalled, in part. “And then I heard more shooting.”

“Did you hear that (Room 112 student’s) voice again?” Turner asked Reyes.

“No,” Reyes said.

4:53 p.m. – Reyes said the shooter approached him again.

“That’s when he came, and he tried to taunt me,” Reyes said. “He got some of my blood and splashed it on my face.”

“Were your eyes opened or closed?” Turner asked.

“I closed them,” Reyes said.

“And why did you close your eyes?” Turner asked.

“Because I wanted him to think that I was dead,” Reyes said.

4:54 p.m. – Reyes then told the court about his other injury sustained in the shooting.

“After he taunted me and did all of that stuff, later on, he did come back,” Reyes said. “He shot me in the back.”

4:55 p.m. – Turner asked Reyes about his concept of time over these events.

“I’m not sure how long,” Reyes said. “I just know it felt like forever.”

“As I was laying there, I heard the door open, and I heard little clanging at the desks: the metal,” Reyes said. “That’s when I told myself, ‘They’re coming. Anything can happen.’ And, pretty much, prayed. I gave myself to the Lord. And just closed my eyes real tight and just waited for everything to be over.”

4:56 p.m. – Reyes shared what he experienced after the desks clanged.

“I just heard gunfire,” Reyes said. “A lot of it.”

Reyes believed he read the words “Border Patrol” on the law enforcement officers who rescued him.

“He had (the law enforcement officer) said, ‘Get up if you can get up or talk if you can talk,’” Reyes recalled. “That’s when I spoke and I said, ‘I’m here. I’m alive.’”

Reyes said he was later dragged out of the classroom by law enforcement.

4:57 p.m. – A medical first responder then applied a “tourniquet” to Reyes’ arm.

“Did any of your children in Room 111 survive this attack?” Turner asked Reyes.

“No, sir,” Reyes responded.

4:59 p.m. – The pictures of victims from Reyes’ classroom were admitted and shown to the court.

5 p.m. – As pictures of the children were shown to the court, Reyes told Turner which of them were students in his class on the day of the shooting.

Some of the children were students killed inside Room 112.

5:02 p.m. – Reyes then identified students who survived the shooting in Room 112.

5:04 p.m. – Turner passed the witness. LaHood began cross-examining Reyes.

5:10 p.m. – LaHood asked if the door on the east side of campus near the library was “unlocked,” which Reyes confirmed.

“That (door) was knowingly left unlocked,” LaHood said.

“Yeah, I think they were left open due to rotations,” Reyes said. “Going to P.E. (physical education, going to computer lab, going to other places. Yes.”

5:11 p.m. – LaHood asked Reyes about two doors — Room 111’s front door and the door in between Room 111 and Room 112. Both those doors, according to LaHood, “had the ability to be locked.” Reyes agreed with LaHood.

The former Robb teacher said he didn’t know both doors were unlocked on May 24, 2022.

“And I’m not being disrespectful, OK?” LaHood began. “Whose responsibility is it in Room 111 to make sure those doors are locked?”

“That would be my responsibility,” Reyes told LaHood.

5:15 p.m. – Reyes claimed he reported a malfunctioning door to the school’s principal and the school secretary before May 24, 2022.

5:19 p.m. – Reyes said the “Raptor” system, which is an app that notifies teachers and staff about potential danger at their schools, did not alert app subscribers while the shooter was on campus.

“I didn’t get a (Raptor) warning on my phone (during the shooting),” Reyes said. “I don’t know if anybody else did.”

5:20 p.m. – LaHood asked Reyes if a teacher could make “an independent decision” to put their class on lockdown without having to wait on instruction from the school’s front office.

“I guess, yeah,” Reyes said. “You could.”

5:21 p.m. – Reyes responded to LaHood’s additional assertion about a “teacher taking responsibility” into their own hands.

“I’m guessing that you’re assuming that I knew that was a gun,” Reyes told LaHood. “I didn’t make the correlation that the noise was coming from a gun until the gun was actually in my classroom. The noise and the gun — I could not actually tell that we were in danger. It was just a loud noise, and it was just banging.”

“I’m trying not to assume anything,” LaHood told Reyes. “That’s why I’m asking questions, OK? I’m really not trying to blame you or do anything disrespectful. I just have to ask these questions, OK?”

5:22 p.m. – LaHood suggested to jurors that Reyes had previously told a grand jury that Garcia and Mireles in Room 112 were “trying to lock their door.”

“I never stated that,” Reyes told LaHood. Reyes did say he previously spoke to a grand jury before.

LaHood began searching for documents with Reyes’ previous grand jury testimony.

5:24 p.m. – LaHood said he found Reyes’ testimony.

“When you were with the grand jury, you were under oath (then) like you are today?” LaHood asked.

“Yes,” Reyes said.

LaHood approached Reyes on the witness stand with the grand jury testimony. Reyes read the testimony to himself.

5:25 p.m. – “You testified before because you were asked a question: Did either of the teachers in Room 112 come to your room and say, ‘Hey, I just got the Raptor. … I believe they were trying to lock their door.’ Do you remember saying that now?” LaHood asked.

“Yes,” Reyes said.

“You’ve said before that you believe that the teachers in (Room) 112 were trying to lock their door, right?” LaHood asked.

“I believe that that’s what I had seen — or I was told — from other teachers. Yes,” Reyes said.

“That’s not what you said in this testimony,” LaHood said to Reyes. “You said you believed it because they were right next to you that they were locking their door, correct?”

“Mmhmm,” Reyes said. “I believe that that’s what they were doing.”

Harle concluded court proceedings for the day. The jury is expected back in court at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Watch Reyes’ full Monday testimony below from Corpus Christi:

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: