Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty 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 to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now determined that the teacher, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention when authorities first stated 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 however ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary School employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers who had been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been now not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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