Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

State police initially said a teacher had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information 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 but ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School employee, 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 automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters were now not in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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