Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out 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 Could 24.

They've now determined that the trainer, 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 Security. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first said 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 said the teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-News 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 meals from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are additionally still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college capturing scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if children have been no longer in danger, while 19 police officers waited in the faculty hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “improper choice,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.