Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two academics, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the instructor, 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 Division of Public Security. But, 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 wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news conference when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar 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 legal professional stated.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary told 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 because that door is all the time presupposed to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been not in danger, while 19 police officers waited in the school hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “unsuitable decision,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.