Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't 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 searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the teacher, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 trainer 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 while on her cellphone, 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,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, 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 car to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two lecturers who were killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children have been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.