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 determine why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated a instructor had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24.

They have 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. But, Considine stated, the door did not 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 didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element via extra video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information conference 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her cellphone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer 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 automotive to a classroom, the attorney 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 following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

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

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the college shooting scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage situation and as if children have been not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.