Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't 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 to find out why, state police mentioned 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 decided that the instructor, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by way of further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first stated 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 teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while on her phone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him bounce 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 Express-News 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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

“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 informed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters had been no longer at risk, while 19 cops waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.