Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two lecturers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They've now decided that the teacher, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but then eliminated the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We all know that much and now investigators are trying into why it did not lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney stated.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas telling 911 that he was shooting,” Flanary informed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is always presupposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if children had been no longer in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “improper decision,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.