Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School 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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking out to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They've now determined that the instructor, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however then removed 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 did not lock.

“We did verify 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the element by way of extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first stated 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 stated the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw 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 informed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 food 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 while telling 911 that he was shooting,” Flanary told the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent 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 as a result of that door is all the time imagined to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

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

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids have been now not at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.