Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty 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 teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the instructor, who has not been identified, 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. However, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element by further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Categorical-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 automotive to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids have been now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “fallacious resolution,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.