Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

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 stated Tuesday.

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

They have 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information 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 instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary College 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 automobile to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters 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 speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if children had been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.