Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They've now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, 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 Security. However, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element via further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came 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 stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 food from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were not in danger, while 19 cops waited in the college hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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