Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police stated Tuesday.

State police initially said a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now decided that the teacher, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but 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 Department of Public Security. However, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

“We did confirm 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the element through extra video footage reviewed since last 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 teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 hold meals from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional said.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary informed the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is at all times supposed to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college capturing 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 state of affairs and as if youngsters have been now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited in the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.