Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't 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 out to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a instructor 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 instructor, 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 Division of Public Safety. However, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

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

“She came again out whereas on her telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Express-News 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 back in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary advised the newspaper.

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

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if children had been now not at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.