Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

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

They've now decided 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail via further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference 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 phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her telephone, 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 legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 carry meals 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 capturing,” Flanary told the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters were now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited in the college hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.