Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Price

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College 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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking out to find out why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've now decided 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, 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 did not lock. We all know that a lot and now investigators are looking into why it didn't lock,” Considine stated.

Investigators confirmed the element by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at that time what had been used to prop open the door.

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

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

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who had been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

Flanary did not instantly return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has said Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids have been now not in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.