Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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

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

They have now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 Department of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by means of further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference 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 trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 food from a car to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time alleged to be locked,” Flanary mentioned.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if children had been not in danger, while 19 police officers waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.