Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

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

They have now determined that the instructor, who has not been identified, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail via extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone 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 saw him leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary School employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the loose. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

Flanary didn't immediately return phone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity shooting scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if children have been now not at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited in the school hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other 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 mentioned.