Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police stated 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 determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. However, Considine said, the door did not lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are trying into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element by further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first mentioned 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 however ran again inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came 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,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the loose. She had initially propped it open to carry meals from a car to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who have been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters had been not at risk, while 19 cops waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.