Testimony in the trial of former Uvalde school officer Adrian Gonzales continued Wednesday with jurors hearing from parents, teachers, doctors and law enforcement. On the stand on Wednesday, teachers at Robb Elementary recounted the moments they heard gunshots and their actions to lockdown classr ooms and protect students. Former Uvalde CISD teaching aide Meloyde Flores testified she ran outside to alert kids at recess and saw the gunman. “He just stood there and lifted up his rifle, and I started running back,” testified Flores. She told jurors she saw Uvalde CISD officer Adrian Gonzales pull up to the campus and told him where the gunman was headed as the officer paced back and forth. “I just kept pointing. He’s going in there. He’s going into the fourth-grade building.” During cross-examination, defense attorneys questioned inconsistencies in her testimony, including the description of his patrol vehicle. Prosecutors allege former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales didn’t do enough to stop the shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24, 2022. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment. “When there’s an active shooter, we can not sit around and wait,” testified former Dallas SWAT officer and retired law enforcement trainer Michael Witzgall. Witzgall told jurors about the hostage situation and active shooter courses he taught for 22 years and showed photos of Gonzales taking his classes. He testified how he teaches officers to respond to an active shooter. “We got to stop the killing,” Witzgall said. “You can’t wait for backup. I know there are curriculums out there that teach to always wait for two or three more guys, but in my opinion, and the way I train people, you don’t have to wait. You got to make a move,” Witzgall said. Defense attorneys argued training scenarios differ from the stress and chaos that comes with an actual shooting and pointed out how going in alone could increase the chance of an officer getting killed along with others. Fourth grade teacher Mercedes Salas recalled hearing the first shot and locking her classroom door as she calmed her students. “I didn’t want them to hear anything else so I just said you need to pray, you need to pray and I couldn’t say it out loud because I had a lot of kids,” said Salas as she gestured her hands in prayer. Salas testified one of her students grabbed a pair of scissors and she prepared to throw chairs at the gunman if he made it through the locked door. She cried as she recounted hearing the gunman fire into nearby classrooms. “I heard, I heard kids screaming. And when they screamed, I heard the gunshot. Then, I didn’t hear them anymore. So I knew something happened to them, because I couldn’t hear them anymore,” Salas said. Gonzales and former Ulvade CISD Police Chief Pete Arrendondo are the only two responding officers that day to face charges. Arrendodo’s trial has not been set. ...read more read less