Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated 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 instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but then removed 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 did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news conference 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 stated the trainer initially propped the door open however 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 telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, 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 hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college capturing scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters had been not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited within the school hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

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