Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two lecturers, 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 varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now decided that the instructor, 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, said 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 did not lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element by way of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned 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 said the instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-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 carry meals from a car to a classroom, the lawyer said.

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

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

“She thought the door would lock because that door is always speculated to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

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

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “unsuitable choice,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.