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 lecturers, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated a instructor had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They have now determined that the instructor, who has not been identified, 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 Department of Public Safety. However, Considine stated, the door did not 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the detail via further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 automobile to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

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

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

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

Flanary didn't immediately return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if kids were no longer at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited within the school hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and schools police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.