Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two lecturers, leaving investigators looking 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 varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 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 Department of Public Safety. But, Considine mentioned, 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 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 didn't state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine said the trainer 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 came again out while on her phone, 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,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional 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 told the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids had been no longer at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “mistaken choice,” saying the main focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.