Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

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

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

They've now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but 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. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine said the teacher initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her telephone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw 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 advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is always presupposed to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were not in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the school hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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