Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly earlier than a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two academics, leaving investigators searching to determine why, state police said 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've now determined that the instructor, who has not been recognized, propped the door open with a rock, however then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, mentioned Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Safety. But, Considine said, the door didn't lock.

“We did confirm 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 said.

Investigators confirmed the detail by additional video footage reviewed since final Friday’s news convention when authorities first stated that the door had been left propped open. Authorities didn't state at the moment what had been used to prop open the door.

Considine stated the trainer initially propped the door open but ran again inside to get her phone and call 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio attorney Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty 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 automobile 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 shooting,” Flanary informed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the subsequent two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 kids and two teachers who have been killed in that classroom on May 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return telephone messages left at his workplace from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally nonetheless attempting to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the varsity taking pictures scene whereas it happened.

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

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

Different officers in the Uvalde metropolis and schools police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine mentioned.