Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

State police initially mentioned a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now determined that the trainer, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but then eliminated 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 Safety. But, Considine said, the door didn't 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention when authorities first mentioned 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 teacher 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 got here back out while on her phone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

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

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers 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 stated.

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

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters had been no longer in danger, while 19 police officers waited in the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “flawed determination,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.