Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

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

State police initially stated a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the varsity 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, but then eliminated the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. However, Considine stated, the door did not 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 did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element by extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference 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 again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

“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 informed the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two lecturers who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids had been now not at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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