Pistons never trail while cruising to fourth straight win, 112-104 over struggling Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jalen Duran scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, Daniss Jenkins added 17 points and the Detroit Pistons never trailed while cruising to their fourth straight victory, 112-104 over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night.

Duncan Robinson had 15 points while shooting 4 of 9 from 3-point range for the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, who have won seven of their last eight.

Saddiq Bey scored 20 points to lead the Western Conference-worst Pelicans, who have lost 14 of their last 16.

Zion Williamson, who started after being listed as questionable with an illness, went to the locker room early in the third quarter and didn't return. He had 4 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.

Trey Murphy III shot just 6 of 19 from the floor and finished with 17 points, ending his streak of eight straight games with at least 20 points. Micah Peavy also had 17 points and added seven rebounds and four steals for New Orleans.

Duran's dunk 16 seconds into the game gave the Pistons a 2-0 lead and they built a lead as large as 13 points.

Peavy's 3-pointer with 5:41 left in the game cut the Pelicans' deficit to 5 points at 101-96, but that was as close as they would get before the Pistons closed it out.

Pistons: Host the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

Pelicans: At the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey goes to the basket between Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) and forward Duncan Robinson (55) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III (25) drives to the basket against Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson (9) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey shoots against Detroit Pistons guard Marcus Sasser (25) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson goes to the basket against the Detroit Pistons in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) slam dunks against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A former Uvalde schools police officer was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he failed in his duties to confront the gunman at Robb Elementary during the critical first minutes of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzales, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the 2022 attack, in which a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Had he been convicted, he faced up two years in prison on more than two dozen charges of child abandonment and endangerment.

Gonzales appeared to fight back tears and hugged his lawyers after the verdict was read in a courtroom in Corpus Christi, hundreds of miles from Uvalde, where his legal team said a fair trial would not have been possible.

“Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” Gonzales told reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he declined.

Several family members of the victims sat in silence in the courtroom, some crying or wiping away tears.

“Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith," said Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed. He said he was frustrated by the verdict and hopes the state will press ahead with the trial of former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the only other officer who has been charged over the police response.

“Those children in the cemetery can’t speak for themselves,” Rizo said.

Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving.

Arredondo’s trial has not yet been set. Paul Looney, his attorney, told The Associated Press that he believes the verdict will result in prosecutors dropping the case against his client.

“These people have been vilified, and it’s horrible what’s been done to them. These guys didn’t do anything wrong,” Looney said.

The nearly three-week trial was an unusual case in the U.S. of an officer facing criminal charges on accusations of failing to stop a crime and protect lives.

The proceedings included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot and survived. Prosecutors argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he entered the school.

“We’re expected to act differently when talking about a child that can’t defend themselves,” special prosecutor Bill Turner said during closing arguments Wednesday. “If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while a child is in imminent danger.”

At least 370 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the gunman. Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, angering some victim’s relatives who said they wanted more to be held accountable.

Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment and endangerment — each count representing the 19 students who were killed and 10 others who were injured.

During the trial jurors heard a medical examiner describe the fatal wounds to the children, some of whom were shot more than a dozen times. Several parents told of sending their children to school for an awards ceremony and the panic that ensued as the attack unfolded.

Gonzales’ lawyers said he arrived upon a chaotic scene of rifle shots echoing on school grounds and never saw the gunman before the attacker went inside the school. They also insisted that three other officers who arrived seconds later had a better chance to stop the gunman.

“He was the lowest man on the totem pole. They thought he was easy pickings,” Nico LaHood, one of Gonzales' attorneys, said of prosecutors after the acquittal.

LaHood said he briefly polled jurors on their decision after the verdict.

“They talked about gaps. They talked about perspective and what the government didn’t prove about Adrian,” LaHood said.

Some victims’ families made the long drive to watch Gonzales' trial. Early on the sister of one of the teachers killed was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer’s testimony.

Gonzales’ trial was tightly focused on his actions in the early moments of the attack, but prosecutors also presented the graphic and emotional testimony as the result of police failures.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.

Looney, Arredondo's attorney, said he still wants his client to go trial so he can clear his name, saying, “Pete Arredondo deserves and needs a complete airing and public vindication. I hope he gets that chance.”

Prosecutors faced a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Florida. A sheriff’s deputy was acquitted after being charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting.

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.

Gloria Cazares, mother of Robb Elementary school shooting victim Jackie Cazaeres, reacts after the jury found former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, left, reacts as he stands beside his attorney, Nico LaHood, to answer reporters' questions after the jury found Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Mothers of Robb Elementary School shooting victims, from left, Sandra Torres, Veronica Luevanos, and Felicha Martinez cry together outside the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas, after former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales was found not guilty. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, right, embraces his attorney Jason Goss after the jury found Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Jesse Rizo and his wife Juanita Cazares-Rizo listen to the prosecution and defense deliver their closing statements to the jury on the 11th day of the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. T (Sam Owens /The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Special prosecutor Bill Turner delivers a closing statement to the jury on the 11th day of the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens /The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Nico LaHood mimics a police officer responding to a threat inside a classroom while delivering a closing statement to the jury on the 11th day of the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens /The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales listens to closing statements on the 11th day of his trial at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 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)

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)

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, 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)