Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially stated a instructor had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now decided that the trainer, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, however then eliminated 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 mentioned, the door did not lock.

“We did verify 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the element by way of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 food from a car to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers who had 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 mentioned.

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

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters were not in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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