Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means 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 mentioned the trainer 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 back out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next 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 because that door is at all times presupposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

Investigators are also still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if children have been no longer at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “wrong resolution,” saying the main 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 two days, Considine mentioned.