Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. However, Considine said, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first said 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 instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came back out whereas 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 back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

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 loose. She had initially propped it open to carry food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school shooting scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids have been now not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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