Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two academics, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially said a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now decided that the instructor, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 Division of Public Safety. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first said 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 teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary advised 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 unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return phone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters were now not at risk, while 19 cops waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.