Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the teacher, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but 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 Division of Public Security. But, Considine stated, 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 trying into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail through further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her cellphone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed 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 food from a car to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time alleged to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids were not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “wrong resolution,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

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