Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College didn't lock when it was closed by a instructor 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 stated Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the trainer, 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, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Security. However, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by way of further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information convention when authorities first mentioned that the door had been left propped open. Authorities did not state at the moment 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 phone 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 soar the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary instructed the San Antonio Categorical-News that the Robb Elementary College 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 automotive to a classroom, the legal professional stated.

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

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

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

Flanary didn't immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the school capturing scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage situation and as if kids have been not in danger, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the faculty hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Other officers in the Uvalde metropolis and colleges police departments continue to sit for interviews and provide statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.