Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

State police initially stated a teacher had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now determined that the teacher, 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 confirm she closed the door. The door did not lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated 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 said the instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone 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 jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary College employee, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the unfastened. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters were not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.