Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two academics, leaving investigators looking 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 school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now decided that the instructor, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, said 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 much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element by extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information 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 trainer 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 again out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar 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 told the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary College worker, 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 hold meals from a car to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

“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 planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent 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 head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters had been not at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde city and schools police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.