Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a teacher 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 mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the teacher, 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 Department of Public Security. But, Considine said, 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 wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first said 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 stated the instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her phone and name 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 noticed him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information 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 carry meals from a car to a classroom, the lawyer stated.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting,” 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 at all times speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

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

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage scenario and as if children have been no longer in danger, whereas 19 cops waited in the school hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.