Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty 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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They've now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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 said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element via extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference 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 however ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out while on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary College 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 meals from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer said.

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

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

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

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his office from The Related 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 varsity taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids were now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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