Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

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

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

They have now determined that the trainer, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. However, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by means of extra 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 the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the teacher initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Specific-News 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 food from a car 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 shooting,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times presupposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

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

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids were now not at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.