Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They've now determined that the teacher, who has not been recognized, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first said 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 stated the instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her telephone, 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,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the loose. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a car 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 shooting,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is always purported to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters were no longer at risk, while 19 cops waited in the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “mistaken determination,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

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