Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now decided that the instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, however then removed 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 Safety. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned 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 trainer initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to hold food from a car to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

“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 advised the newspaper.

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

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

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

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if children have been now not in danger, while 19 cops waited within the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in 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.