Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty 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 academics, leaving investigators looking out to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They've now decided that the trainer, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

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

“She got here back out while on her telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar 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 College employee, 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 carry food from a car to a classroom, the attorney said.

“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 told the newspaper.

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

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

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, 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 police officers waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.