Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They've now determined that the trainer, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention 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 instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

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 unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney said.

“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 planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college capturing scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited in the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “fallacious determination,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.