Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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 teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the teacher, 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 Security. However, Considine said, 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 wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element by means of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention 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 stated the trainer 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 back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-News 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 carry food from a car to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

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

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times supposed to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary did not instantly return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school shooting scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been no longer in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments proceed to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.