Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the instructor, 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 Safety. However, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information 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 said the teacher 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 came again out whereas on her telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 carry meals from a automobile to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is always speculated to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids had been now not in danger, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.