Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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 looking out to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have now determined 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary School 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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

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

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is at all times speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids had been now not in danger, while 19 cops waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “improper decision,” saying the main focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.