Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially said a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

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

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine stated.

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

Considine stated the teacher initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary instructed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is all the time supposed to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “fallacious decision,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.