Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School 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 academics, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially said a teacher had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They've now determined that the instructor, 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 Department of Public Security. However, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by way of additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 trainer 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 came again 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 back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio legal professional 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 loose. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

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

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids have been not at risk, while 19 cops waited within the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.