Jan 6 (Reuters) – One of the first police officers on the scene of the 2022 attack at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two ​teachers is now the first to stand trial, accused of failing to act ‌as the gunman continued one of the deadliest mass killings targeting students in U.S. history.

Opening arguments were to begin ‌Tuesday in the trial of Adrian Gonzales, 52, who was a member of the school district police force. Hundreds of officers from local, state and federal agencies waited 77 minutes before entering a classroom where the gunman was holed up. Teachers and children made lengthy calls to 911 emergency ⁠services, saying they were in the ‌room with the gunman and surrounded by bodies.

Gonzales was charged in 2024 with 29 counts of child endangerment, according to his indictment, which said ‍that he “failed to engage, distract, and delay the shooter” and that he also failed “to follow his active shooter training to respond to gun fire by advancing toward the gun fire.”