Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now determined that the trainer, 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 Division of Public Security. However, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated 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 mentioned the teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is always alleged to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were no longer in danger, while 19 cops waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.