Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They have now decided 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are trying into why it didn't lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element through extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-News 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 hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

“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 advised the newspaper.

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

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

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, while 19 cops waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.