Uvalde school shooting timeline: Prosecutors say officers arrived before gunman entered building
Over three years after one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, a school police officer who was one of the first to arrive on the scene is on criminal trial for his actions during the response.
Prosecutors have alleged that former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales arrived at Robb Elementary School more than a minute before the gunman entered the building.
Gonzales is charged with 29 counts of child endangerment, accused of having neglected his duty and training during the chaotic response to the shooting.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the shooting on May 24, 2022.
Prosecutors have centered their case against Gonzales on the timeline of his response to the shooting before the gunman entered the building.
Prosecutors allege that Gonzales was directly told the location and a description of the gunman before the shooter entered Robb Elementary School, but failed to follow his training to potentially prevent the shooting.
Defense lawyers have accused Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell of “tunnel vision in prosecuting” Gonzales and ignoring key facts. The defense said other officers arrived at the scene in the same timeframe as Gonzales, arguing that at least one officer had an opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school.
Defense lawyers have argued that Gonzales may have been one of the first to respond to the shooting, but he never saw or located the shooter.
Despite nearly 400 officers responding to the shooting, law enforcement took 77 minutes to mount a counterassault to kill the shooter.
Timeline presented by prosecutors
Shortly after 11 a.m.: The gunman, later identified as 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos, shoots his 66-year-old grandmother in the head at their residence. He flees. She was able to run across the street and call police. She has survived, according to Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
11:27 a.m.: The gunman crashes his vehicle into a ravine adjacent to the school, according to McCraw. He emerges from the passenger side of the vehicle with a Daniel Defense AR-15-style assault rifle.
11:28 a.m.: A teacher exits the school's west-facing entrance door to transport food from her parked car to the classroom, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to ABC News. The teacher witnesses the car wreck and runs inside to retrieve her phone, using a rock to keep the door propped open.
The gunman then fires four shots at two witnesses outside a nearby funeral home. Neither was struck, according to released surveillance video.
11:29 a.m.: The first 911 call was made, originally reported as a car crash, according to prosecutors. Texas DPS later identified the teacher as the caller.
The teacher returned to the propped open door, sees the gunman approaching the school with a gun then removes the rock and shuts the door, telling the dispatcher what she saw. But the door does not lock, according to Texas DPS.
McCraw said in testimony to the Texas Senate on June 21, 2022, that the locking mechanism was not engaged, but the teacher could not have known that from inside the building.
11:29 a.m.: The gunman hops a fence towards the school, according to surveillance video.
11:30 a.m.: Police receive the second 911 call, detailing the crash and shots fired.
11:30 a.m.: The first police officer, later identified by prosecutors as Gonzales, speeds past the gunman in a car, surveillance video shows.
When Gonzales initially drove by the shooter, he ducked behind a police car, Claudia Rodriguez, a secretary at the funeral home that neighbored Robb Elementary and a defense witness, testified on Tuesday. The defense alleged this prevented Gonzales from being able to clearly spot him when he first arrived at the school.
11:31 a.m.: Gonzales arrives at the school’s west gate.
11:31 a.m.: Gonzales parks his car in the Robb Elementary parking lot. The gunman fires two additional shots.
11:31 a.m.: The gunman approaches the school through the parking lot, according to McCraw. He does not encounter any officers outside of the building.
11:32 a.m.: Gonzales reports the active shooting on his radio.
11:32:23-29 a.m.: Two officers from the Uvalde Police Department arrive at Robb Elementary. Defense lawyers allege that one of them had an opportunity to kill the gunman but did not take the shot.
11:32:33 a.m.: Former Uvalde Police Sgt. Daniel Coronado arrives at Robb Elementary.
Before the gunman entered the school, a teaching aide, Melodye Flores, tried to warn Gonzales after coming face to face with the shooter, she testified in court. Flores testified that she ran into Gonzales and told him that he needed to stop the shooter before he got into the building and told him where the gunman was. She said he did not say anything in response.
11:32:59 a.m.: The shooter enters the west side of Robb Elementary, one minute and four seconds after Gonzales parked his car.
11:33 a.m.: The shooter enters Room 111 of Robb Elementary after firing 21 shots in the hallway. He fires 117 shots in Rooms 111 and 112.
11:35 a.m.: Gonzales enters the south door of Robb Elementary.
12:50 p.m.: Officers from the Border Patrol tactical unit breach the classroom door using a set of keys acquired from a school janitor. Officers shoot and kill the gunman. Officers then immediately engage in a "rescue operation," Escalon said.
