Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They've now determined that the trainer, who has not been identified, 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 Department of Public Security. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

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

“She came back out while on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce 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 told the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold food from a car to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back 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 teachers who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

Flanary didn't immediately return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children had been now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited in the college hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “flawed choice,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.