Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They've 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her cellphone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw 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 informed the San Antonio Specific-Information 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 food from a car to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

“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 informed the newspaper.

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

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

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

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

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids had been not at risk, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in 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 2 days, Considine stated.