Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a teacher 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 mentioned Tuesday.

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

They've now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but then eliminated the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. However, 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 stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while on her phone, 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 mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary School employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the loose. She had initially propped it open to hold meals 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 shooting,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time presupposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary did not immediately return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are also still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids have been now not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited within the college hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.