Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College 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 to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially said a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have now determined that the trainer, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference 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 stated the teacher initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone 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 leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 carry meals from a automobile 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 capturing,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

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

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times imagined to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity capturing scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if children have been now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.