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 students and two academics, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police mentioned Tuesday.

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

They've now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, but then removed 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 said, 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 did not lock,” Considine said.

Investigators confirmed the element via additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s information convention 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 but ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-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 carry meals from a automotive to a classroom, the lawyer mentioned.

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

Funerals are planned for the following two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two teachers who had been killed in that classroom on Could 24.

“She thought the door would lock because that door is at all times purported to be locked,” Flanary said.

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

Investigators are additionally nonetheless trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have mentioned was the commander of the varsity capturing scene while it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Security, has mentioned Arredondo treated the lively scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids had been now not at risk, whereas 19 law enforcement officials waited within the school hallway exterior the classroom the place the shooter was.

McCraw called that the “mistaken determination,” saying the focus of the investigation has shifted to Arredondo and the police response.

Other officers within the Uvalde city and schools police departments proceed to sit for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.