Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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 students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially said a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now decided that the instructor, 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 Safety. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by means of additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned 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 stated the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told 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 carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

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

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been not at risk, while 19 cops waited in the school hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “fallacious determination,” 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 proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.