Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking out to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially said a teacher 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 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 mentioned, the door did not lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are trying into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

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

“She came back out whereas on her telephone, 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 mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 carry meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids had been no longer at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.