Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College 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 said Tuesday.

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

They've now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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 Department of Public Security. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

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 did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

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

“She came back out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School employee, 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 car to a classroom, the lawyer 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 advised the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers who have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times purported to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids had been no longer in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited within the faculty hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.