Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

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

They've now determined that the trainer, who has not been identified, 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 Division of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College 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 carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been now not at risk, 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 metropolis and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.