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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They've now decided that the teacher, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. But, 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 trying into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by further video footage reviewed since last 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 mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came back out while on her cellphone, 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 attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-Information 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 meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school shooting scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been no longer at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments proceed to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.