Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They've now decided 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element through extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention 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 teacher 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 came again out while on her telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College 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 hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney said.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary told 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 Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is at all times alleged to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

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

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been not in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.