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By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – Two former Texas college cops have pleaded not responsible to expenses associated to the 2022 taking pictures at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde that killed 19 college students and two academics.
Adrian Gonzales entered a plea of not responsible to 29 counts of kid endangerment throughout an arraignment on Thursday, based on his lawyer, Nico LaHood. The opposite former officer, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, waived his proper to an arraignment and pleaded not responsible to 10 counts of kid endangerment, based on the court docket clerk’s workplace.
The pair face expenses for his or her roles within the bungled police response to the college taking pictures throughout which officers waited for greater than an hour exterior a classroom the place the gunman was holed up with kids, together with those that made prolonged calls to 911 emergency providers, saying they have been within the room with the gunman and surrounded by our bodies.
“Mr. Gonzales just isn’t responsible of those allegations,” LaHood mentioned after the arraignment. “He confirmed up that day to attempt to assist these kids. And there’s proof that he did assist these kids that day, he helped evacuate them.”
Arredondo’s lawyer didn’t instantly return calls looking for remark.
The decide set Sept. 16 as the following pre-trial listening to date for Arredondo and Gonzales, who have been indicted by a grand jury in Uvalde final month.
Lots of of regulation enforcement officers have been criticized for failures within the response to the taking pictures on Could 24, 2022.
Officers left the 18-year-old gunman alone inside a classroom with kids whereas weighing the right way to confront him. By the point officers stormed in, the college had develop into the scene of one of many deadliest shootings in U.S. historical past.
The costs in opposition to Arredondo and Gonzales are the primary felony complaints lodged in opposition to any responding officers.
Federal and state investigations into the college taking pictures condemned the responding officers’ inaction.
In Could, the households of the victims filed lawsuits in opposition to Meta (NASDAQ:), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:) and its father or mother Microsoft (NASDAQ:), together with gunmaker Daniel Protection, for what they declare was collusion in advertising and marketing weapons to younger individuals.
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