Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't 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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police stated Tuesday.

State police initially said a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, 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 meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids 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 at all times supposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if children were not at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “incorrect resolution,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.