Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two lecturers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially stated a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now determined that the trainer, who has not been recognized, 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 Division of Public Security. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 instructor initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 meals from a automobile to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “flawed choice,” 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 continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.