Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

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

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

They have now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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 Department of Public Safety. However, Considine mentioned, the door didn't 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 did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news 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 stated the teacher initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out whereas on her telephone, 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,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 automobile to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, while 19 cops waited within the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.