Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not 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 to find out why, state police stated Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a instructor had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They have now determined that the instructor, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. However, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first mentioned 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-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 hold meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the following 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 as a result of that door is all the time purported to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters were no longer in danger, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “improper determination,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.