Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a instructor 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 said Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. But, Considine said, the door did not 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 mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention when authorities first mentioned 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 mentioned 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 back out while on her cellphone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce 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-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional said.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas 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 children 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 always supposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters had been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.