Former school police officer Adrian Gonzales might have experienced “inattentive blindness,” one former SWAT officer argued Tuesday during the trial against Gonzales, who faces 29 charges of child endangerment for his alleged inaction during the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers.
Willie Cantu, a retired SWAT officer with the San Antonio police department, testified Tuesday for the defense that Gonzales may have experienced “tunnel vision” when he thought a teacher’s aide on campus was the threat.
“Unless you’ve experienced it, you don’t understand just how bad it can be,” Cantu said. “It causes an inattentive blindness. You get stressed. I’m late for work. And I need to find my keys to my car. I can’t find my keys. You have them in your hand. That’s inattentive blindness because you’re stressed.”
Evidence has shown that when Gonzales got word that there was someone near Robb Elementary with a gun, he drove from a nearby park to the south side of the campus and because he thought Melodye Flores, a teacher’s aide at Robb, was the threat. For about three minutes, the prosecution said, he was “standing there,” while the defense argued that he was gathering information from Flores and radioing it in. When Gonzales realized gunshots were coming from inside the school, he entered through the south side with three other police officers.
