Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially stated a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They have now determined 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door did not lock.

“We did verify 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 stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention 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 teacher initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone 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 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 Express-News that the Robb Elementary School employee, 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 carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was capturing,” Flanary told 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 May 24.

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

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

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity shooting scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids have been no longer in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis 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.