Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College 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 teachers, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

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

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by further video footage reviewed since final 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 teacher initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-Information 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 lawyer said.

“She kicked the rock away when she went again in. She remembers pulling the door closed whereas telling 911 that he was taking pictures,” Flanary told the newspaper.

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who were killed in that classroom on Might 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 immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters were not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited in the school hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “fallacious resolution,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Different 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 stated.