Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

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

State police initially mentioned a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have now determined that the trainer, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But, Considine said, 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 looking into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference when authorities first stated 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 stated the trainer initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-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 hold food from a car to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two teachers who have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return phone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been now not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “fallacious resolution,” saying the main focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit down for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.