Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't 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 searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now decided 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by 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 stated the instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while on her telephone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump 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 advised the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold food from a car 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 deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers 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 imagined to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are also still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if kids were no longer in danger, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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