Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the instructor, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are wanting into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference 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 instructor 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 whereas on her telephone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Express-News 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 hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two teachers who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time imagined to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids had been not at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “mistaken decision,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.