Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

State police initially mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have now determined that the trainer, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We all know that much and now investigators are looking into why it didn't lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the element by further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the teacher initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two lecturers who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times imagined to be locked,” Flanary said.

Flanary did not instantly return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if children had been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.