Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

State police initially mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now determined that the instructor, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine said the instructor initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold food from a car to a classroom, the legal professional said.

“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 informed the newspaper.

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

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is always presupposed to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity capturing scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids were not at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “incorrect choice,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.