Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

State police initially said a teacher had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on May 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 Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail via further video footage reviewed since last 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 stated the instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while on her cellphone, she heard someone 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 stated.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 car to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

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

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

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

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

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

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters have been now not at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.