Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't 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 looking out to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school 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, but 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 Department of Public Security. But, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first said 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 said the instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump 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 informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College 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 meals from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional said.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is at all times speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school shooting scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters have been no longer in danger, while 19 police officers waited in the faculty hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.