Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They've now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 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 know that a lot and now investigators are wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first stated 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody 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 mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary College worker, 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 automotive to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

“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 instructed the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters were not in danger, whereas 19 cops waited in the school hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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