Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before 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 trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

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

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first said 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 teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone 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 bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, 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 meals 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 whereas telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary instructed the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters were not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited within the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “fallacious resolution,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.