Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the instructor, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but then removed 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 know that much and now investigators are wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a car to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were not in danger, while 19 cops waited within the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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