Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly earlier than 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 said a instructor had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They have now decided that the teacher, who has not been recognized, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

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

Considine said the instructor initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while 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 lawyer Don Flanary advised the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the unfastened. 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 again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary informed the newspaper.

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

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

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school taking pictures scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo treated the active scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids had been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “incorrect decision,” saying the main target of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and schools police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.