Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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 academics, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially said a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of further 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 the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School 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 Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if children have been no longer at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.