A former Uvalde police officer who was part of the force during its botched response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, Adrián González, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges over his actions.
Concretely, González was charged with abandoning and failing to protect the children who were killed and wounded in the shooting, as he was part of the almost 400 officers who waited for over an hour to confront the shooter, 19-year-old Salvador Ramos.
Family members of the victims told The Texas Tribune that they will keep fighting for more officers to be held accountable for their lack of action. "We'll take what we get and we're just gonna continue fighting for the kids and the two teachers and see it all the way through," said Jerry Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was among the 21 fatal victims.
Former Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo, who oversaw the operation, was arrested in late June after he and González were indicted by a grand jury. He waived his arraignment and entered a not guilty plea earlier this month, being released on bond. Arredondo is charged with 10 state jail felony counts of abandoning or endangering a child.
The news comes as families of the victims advance several lawsuits against law enforcement and others involved in the shooting. The latest one took place earlier this month, when they sued shipping companies FedEx and UPS for sending weapon components to the massacre perpetrator, alleging that in doing so they violated state and federal law as well as their own corporate safety standards.
The lawsuit was filed on the two-year anniversary of the shooting, The Texas Tribune reported, and claims the companies are partly responsible for the ensuing trauma and distress the survivors have suffered.
The shooter, 19-year-old Salvador Ramos, was armed with a weapon ordered online and shipped to Oasis Firearms in Uvalde before being picked up by him. He also ordered an enhanced trigger system, which was sent to his house and allowed him to turn a firearm to a fully automatic or semi-automatic weapon.
Survivors' families also filed a suit against Meta, the maker of Call of Duty videogame "Activision" and Daniel Defense, the company that manufactured the AR-15 rifle used by the gunman.
The families reached in May reached a settlement with the city but at the same time sued over 90 state police officers who were part of the force's botched response to the situation, Arredondo and González among them.
The settlement amounts to $2 million and also includes the promise of higher standards and better training for local police.
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