Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College 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 academics, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police stated 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've now determined that the instructor, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. However, Considine mentioned, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element via further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her cellphone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him leap the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-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 meals from a automobile to a classroom, the attorney said.

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

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

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is all the time alleged to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been now not in danger, whereas 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outdoors 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 within the Uvalde city and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.