Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

State police initially mentioned a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the college 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, but 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 didn't lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are wanting into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element by way of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news 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 said 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 got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times purported to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary did not instantly return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids have been no longer at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “incorrect choice,” 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 sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.