Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't 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 lecturers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They have now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but 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 mentioned, 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 did not lock,” Considine mentioned.

Investigators confirmed the element via further video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention 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 mentioned the instructor initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out whereas on her phone, she heard someone yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine mentioned.

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 meals 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 instructed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two academics who were killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is all the time purported to be locked,” Flanary stated.

Flanary didn't immediately return phone messages left at his workplace from The Related Press.

Investigators are additionally still attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college shooting scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters have been no longer at risk, whereas 19 cops waited in the college hallway outdoors the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw known as that the “wrong 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 continue to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.