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 college students and two lecturers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They've now decided that the instructor, who has not been recognized, 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 Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first said that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the teacher initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her phone, she heard someone 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 said.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 mentioned.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again 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 have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is at all times speculated to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters had been now not in danger, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.