Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two lecturers, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the trainer, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however then removed 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 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 wanting into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information 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 teacher initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 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 leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while 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 academics who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is always speculated to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college shooting scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.