Testimony ends in Uvalde officer's trial over response to 2022 school shooting, case set for jury

Witness testimony ended Tuesday in the trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of failing in his duty to stop a gunman in the critical first minutes of the 2022 Robb Elementary School attack, setting up the case to go to the jury.

Defense lawyers for Adrian Gonzales rested their case after calling just two witnesses, including a police tactics expert to bolster their claim that Gonzales did the best he could after driving onto campus amid a chaotic scene.

Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.

Gonzales did not take the stand in his own defense. Closing arguments are scheduled Wednesday before the jury begins deliberations.

Prosecutors rested their case after nine day of testimony from 36 witnesses in a trial that began Jan. 5. Gonzales’ only two witnesses included a woman who worked across the street from the school who told jurors she saw the shooter ducking between cars and trying to stay out of view — testimony that could reinforce Gonzales’ claims that he never saw the gunman.

Jurors have heard at times gripping and emotional testimony from teachers who recounted the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old gunman entered the school and killed 19 students and two teachers. Prosecutors have presented graphic photos from inside the classrooms and brought to the witness stand officers who described the chaos of the response.

At one point early in the trial, the sister of one of the teachers killed that day was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst after one of the officers testified.

The prosecution's case has tugged at the raw emotion and shock of the carnage of May 24, 2022, as they attempt to show what could have been avoided had Gonzales intercepted the gunman in the early seconds of the attack.

Prosecutors allege the 52-year-old Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school.

“Every second counts in an active shooter situation." special prosecutor Bill Turner said Tuesday, drilling down on 3 minutes between when Gonzales first arrived and when he went into the building. "Every second, more victims can die if a police officer is standing and waiting.”

Gonzales, however, has insisted he didn't freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman. His lawyers insist three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and didn't fire a shot. Body camera footage shows Gonzales being among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smokey hallway trying to reach the killer in a classroom.

The trial in Corpus Christi, Texas, is a rare case of a police officer charged with failing to stop a criminal act to protect lives.

The trial has included some graphic and violent evidence.

In addition to the classroom photos, jurors have heard recordings of the jarring gunshots and listened to a medical examiner describe the fatal wounds to the children. They also heard brief, yet anguished testimony from several parents of children were killed or wounded that day.

Teacher Arnulfo Reyes described seeing a “black shadow with a gun” enter the room before he was shot and all 11 of his students were killed. Other teachers described young students, some as young as second grade, grabbing safety scissors to attack the gunman if he came into their room.

Prosecutors stumbled at times while presenting their case, including inconsistent testimony from witnesses and mistakenly showing a photo from inside the classroom that showed “LOL” written in blood.

A teacher who was one of the early witnesses was dismissed because prosecutors had not disclosed before trial that she recalled seeing the gunman dressed in black approaching the school.

Defense lawyers asked for a mistrial on the second day but were denied. After the state rested, they asked the judge to determine the state had not proved it case. That also was denied.

Gonzales was one of 376 federal, state and local officers swarmed to the school as the attack unfolded. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to breach a classroom and kill the gunman.

Only Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo have been criminally charged for the delayed response.

Javier Cazares listens to testimony during the 10th day of the trial of former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. Cazares is the father of Robb Elementary shooting victim Jackie Cazares, one of the 19 children killed by an 18-year-old gunman. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, left, talks to his defense attorney Nico LaHood during a break on the 10th day of his trial at Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Nico LaHood cross-examines the prosecution's witness Nick Hill, a Texas Ranger lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety, during the 10th day of the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales talks with defense attorney Gary Hillier during the seventh day of Gonzales' trial at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Nico LaHood points to a map of the exterior of Robb Elementary School to show where his client, Adrian Gonzales, parked while cross-examining witness Joe Vasquez, a Zavala County Sheriff's Office deputy, during Gonzales's trial at the Nueces County Courthouse, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Police officers escort Velma Lisa Duran of the courtroom as she yells at witness Joe Vasquez, a Zavala County Sheriff's Office deputy, during a trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Duran's sister Irma Garcia was one of two teachers who were killed in the Robb Elementary mass shooting. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales looks back while seated in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

ADAMUZ, Spain (AP) — A Barcelona commuter train crashed Tuesday after a retaining wall fell onto the tracks, Spanish regional authorities said, killing one person and injuring 15 others.

The crash in Catalonia in northeastern Spain came just two days after a separate deadly train collision killed at least 42 people in the country's south and injured dozens more.

Emergency workers Tuesday were still searching for more victims in the wreckage from Sunday's deadly train accident that took place some 800 kilometers (497 miles) away as the nation began three days of mourning.

Emergency services in Catalonia said of the 15 people affected in Tuesday's crash, three were seriously injured. Five others were in less serious condition. Emergency services said 11 ambulances had been sent to the site of the crash.

The commuter train crashed near the town of Gelida, located about 35 minutes outside of Barcelona.

Spain’s railway operator ADIF said the containment wall likely collapsed due to heavy rainfall that swept across the northeastern Spanish region this week.

Antonio Sanz, the regional health minister of Andalusia, where Sunday's accident occurred, told Spanish media that the official toll from the accident had risen after another corpse was discovered in a severely damaged car.

Amid the tragedy, it emerged that a 6-year-old girl survived the wreck without major injury, while her parents, brother and cousin all perished.

Fidel Sáez lost his mother in the wreck, but his two children, his brother and a nephew survived. Their trip to the capital to see musical “The Lion King” turned into a nightmare on the way home.

“My brother has been taken off respirator. He told me that it was a miracle that he is alive. He had to get the children through a window,” Sáez told national TV broadcaster TVE. “He also asked me to tell the story of our mother, how good she was."

Health authorities said 39 people remained in hospitals on Tuesday morning, while 83 people were treated and discharged.

Among them was Emil Johnson, a Swedish citizen based in Malaga who was traveling to Madrid to renew his passport.

“It was probably two, three seconds. And everything was broken,” Jonsson, sitting in a wheelchair due to bruises on his ribs and back and dressed in part of a hospital gown, told reporters. “When we crashed, I didn’t know who was alive and who was dead.”

The Sunday crash happened at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, derailed and crashed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern city, according to rail operator Adif.

The front of the second train, which was carrying 184 people, took the brunt of the impact, which knocked its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters (feet) from the crash site, according to Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno.

Associated Press images taken Tuesday showed the remains of the first two cars of the second train, severed from the rest of the train and lying beside the tracks. Train seats had been ejected onto the rocks that provide packing under the tracks.

Further along the tracks, Civil Guard officers inspected the interior of the first train with dogs as passengers’ belongings lay scattered on the floor, according to the video distributed by authorities. The last carriage was lying on its side on the tracks, and the second-to-last carriage was leaning to one side with all its windows shattered.

Officials are continuing to investigate the causes of the accident that Puente has called “truly strange” since it occurred on a straight line and neither train was speeding.

Puente said officials had found a broken section of track that could possibly be related to the accident's origin, while insisting that is just a hypothesis and that it could take weeks to reach any conclusions.

“Now we have to determine if that is a cause or a consequence (of the derailment),” Puente told Spanish radio Cadena Ser.

At this time, “all hypotheses are open,” Grande Marlaska told a press conference. Accident investigators will analyze “the rails at the point where the derailment began and inspect the wheels" of the first train in a laboratory, he added.

The train that jumped the track belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train belonged to Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

Iryo said in a statement Monday that its train was manufactured in 2022 and had passed a safety check on Jan. 15.

Puente and Renfe president Álvaro Fernández said that both trains were traveling well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph) and “human error could be ruled out.”

The accident shook a nation that leads Europe in high-speed train mileage and takes pride in a network that is considered at the cutting edge of rail transport.

“It is undoubtedly a hard blow, and I have to work so it doesn’t affect the credibility and strength of the network,” Puente told Spanish national radio RNE on Tuesday when asked about the damage to the reputation of the rail system.

Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the scene of the accident, where they greeted emergency workers as well as some local residents who helped in the initial stages of the rescue. Afterwards, they went to hospital in Cordoba where many of the injured remain under care.

“We are all responsible for not looking away when the debris of a catastrophe is being cleared away," said Letizia to reporters after the visit.

Spain's Civil Guard is collecting DNA samples from family members who fear they have loved ones among the unidentified dead.

High-speed trains resumed service Tuesday from Madrid to Sevilla and Malaga, the largest cities in Andalusia, Spain’s most populous region, but passengers had to travel a stretch of the journey by buses provided by the rail service. Minister Puente said that the normal train service won’t resume until early February.

Spanish airline Iberia added more flights to southern cities until Sunday to help stranded travelers. Some bus companies also reinforced their services in the south.

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Photographer Manu Sánchez in Adamuz and AP journalist Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed.

View of the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

View of the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visit the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via AP) **SPAIN OUT**

Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene following a high-speed train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

An injured person is transported to the makeshift hospital in the sports center in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene after a high speed train collision,in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Emergency crews work at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Part of a wrecked train is photographed at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)