Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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 lecturers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element via further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated 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 said the teacher initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-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 carry meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw referred to as that the “mistaken resolution,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.