Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

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

They've now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 didn't lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that much and now investigators are wanting into why it did not lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first mentioned 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 trainer 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 came back 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 back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 hold food from a car to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary instructed 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 at all times supposed to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if children were now not at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited in the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.