Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators looking out to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through additional 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 said the instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her cellphone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him soar 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 instructed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 hold meals from a car to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

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

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

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

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

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, has said Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids had been no longer at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.