Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two lecturers, leaving investigators looking out to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned 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 trainer, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 Security. However, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, 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 hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two academics who were killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is always purported to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited in the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “incorrect choice,” saying the main focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

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