Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty didn't lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially said a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college 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 removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, stated 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 did not lock. We all know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open however ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came again out whereas on her cellphone, 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 mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 food from a car to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two lecturers who have been 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 said.

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

Investigators are also still making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school shooting scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if children have been no longer in danger, whereas 19 cops waited within the college hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.