Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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 teachers, leaving investigators looking to find out why, state police stated Tuesday.

State police initially stated a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

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

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

Investigators confirmed the detail through additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention 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 instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out while on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary School 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 food from a car to a classroom, the lawyer 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 advised the newspaper.

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

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

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

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if children had been now not at risk, whereas 19 cops waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “flawed resolution,” saying the main focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

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