Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two lecturers, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the trainer, 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 mentioned, the door did not 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 did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out while 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 again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed 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 unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry meals 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 whereas telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

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

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

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity capturing scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children had been now not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited in the college hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.