Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially stated a trainer had propped the door open shortly before the shooter entered the varsity in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They've now decided that the instructor, who has not been identified, 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, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We know that a lot and now investigators are wanting into why it didn't lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news conference when authorities first mentioned 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 said the instructor initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her telephone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She came back out while 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 mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 food 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 planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two lecturers 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 speculated to be locked,” Flanary stated.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless making an attempt to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been not at risk, whereas 19 police officers waited in the school hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was.

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

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