Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

State police initially mentioned a teacher had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but 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 Division of Public Safety. But, Considine mentioned, the door didn't 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 stated.

Investigators confirmed the detail by way of extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the teacher initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here back out whereas on her telephone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she saw him soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine stated.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 hold food from a automotive to a classroom, the legal professional said.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

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

Flanary didn't instantly return phone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

Investigators are also still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage situation and as if youngsters had been no longer in danger, while 19 law enforcement officials waited in the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers within the Uvalde metropolis and faculties police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.