Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary School didn't lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 college students and two academics, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

State police initially said a instructor had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the college in Uvalde, Texas, on Might 24.

They have now decided that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, however 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 Safety. But, Considine stated, the door did not lock.

“We did confirm she closed the door. The door didn't lock. We know that much and now investigators are looking into why it didn't lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s news conference when authorities first said 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 stated the instructor initially propped the door open however ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Specific-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, whom he’s not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the free. She had initially propped it open to hold food from a automobile to a classroom, the lawyer said.

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

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

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

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

Investigators are also still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have stated was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo handled the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if youngsters had been now not in danger, whereas 19 cops waited within the college hallway outside the classroom where 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.

Different officers within the Uvalde city and colleges police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine stated.