Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary Faculty 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 teachers, leaving investigators searching to find out why, state police said Tuesday.

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

They've now determined that the teacher, who has not been recognized, 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, stated Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail by means of additional video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information 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 said the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her telephone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary School worker, 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 carry food from a automobile to a classroom, the legal professional mentioned.

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

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two academics who have been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock as a result of that door is always speculated to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are also nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the college shooting scene while it happened.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has said Arredondo treated the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if kids have been now not at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the college hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments proceed to take a seat for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine said.