The State Keeps Proving Adrian Acted

I keep waiting for the prosecution to call a witness who actually hurts Adrian Gonzales. Day after day, they put people on the stand, and day after day, those people end up explaining why Adrian isn't the villain in this story.

Today was Joe Vasquez. An investigator with the Zavala County Sheriff's Office. Not Uvalde PD. Not school district police. A cop from another county who was off-duty, in shorts and running shoes, when he heard "active shooter at a school."

He didn't know it was his daughter's school until he was already driving there as fast as his truck would go.

The prosecution called him to show what a "motivated officer" does during an active shooter. And yes, Vasquez ran toward the gunfire. He breached that classroom with BORTAC. He saw the bodies. He didn't know if his second-grade daughter was among them until he found her at a civic center an hour later.

But here's what else Vasquez told the jury:

Let that sink in. The man on trial for "failing to act" is the one who enabled 376 officers to finally act.

The Door Nobody Could Open

Vasquez explained something critical today. That classroom door was outward-swinging with a steel frame. You can't kick it in. You can't ram it. You need a halligan tool and a sledgehammer to pry it open, and nobody had those tools.

When BORTAC showed up, Vasquez thought they'd have breaching equipment. They didn't. They had "just what they were wearing."

So what opened that door at 12:50? The master key. The one Adrian found.

Defense attorney Nico LaHood walked Vasquez through the math: 376 officers. One hour. And the prosecution is focused on three minutes of Adrian's actions.

The Officers Who Had the Shot

LaHood also got Vasquez to acknowledge something the prosecution doesn't want to talk about. Three officers on the northwest corner of the building had line of sight to the shooter as he entered. Adrian, on the southeast corner, did not.

Who had the opportunity to stop this? Not Adrian. He couldn't see the shooter. He couldn't know when the shooter entered the building. The three officers who could see? One of them asked permission to shoot. Permission. To shoot an active shooter entering a school.

And those officers? None of them are on trial.

What Adrian Actually Did

Today's testimony added to the list of things Adrian did that the prosecution pretends didn't happen:

He drove into danger by himself. He was one of the first five officers in the building. He stayed in the fatal funnel while two officers got shot. He followed his supervisor's orders to call for SWAT. He found the school map so officers could plan their approach. And he found the master key that made the breach possible.

That's the man the state says "failed to act."

▶️ WATCH NOW Father Cop Who Breached Uvalde Classroom Says Adrian Found the Key That Made the Breach Possible

The Pattern Is Clear

This keeps happening. The prosecution calls witnesses who end up helping the defense. It happened with the officers who explained the fatal funnel. It happened with the witnesses who confirmed Adrian was among the first responders. And it happened today with the man who breached that classroom.

At some point, you have to ask: Does the prosecution have a case, or do they have a scapegoat?

Adrian Gonzales is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He's also entitled to have a jury hear what he actually did that day, not what the state wishes he hadn't done. And witness after witness, the picture that's emerging isn't of a man who failed. It's of a man who acted, who followed orders, who found the key that everyone else needed.

376 officers. One hour. One key.

Adrian found it.