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 mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 Division of Public Safety. However, Considine said, the door did not lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We know that much and now investigators are trying into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention 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 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 someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 food from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer said.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if kids have been not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.