Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a teacher shortly before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers, leaving investigators looking to determine why, state police stated Tuesday.

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

They have now decided that the teacher, 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 Department of Public Safety. However, Considine mentioned, the door did not lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the detail via further video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference when authorities first said 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 however ran back inside to get her phone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

“She got here again out while 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 again inside,” removing the rock when she did, Considine said.

San Antonio lawyer Don Flanary told the San Antonio Express-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 car 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 taking pictures,” Flanary informed the newspaper.

Funerals are deliberate for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 youngsters and two lecturers who had been killed in that classroom on Might 24.

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

Flanary did not immediately return phone messages left at his office from The Associated Press.

Investigators are additionally still trying to interview Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police have said was the commander of the school taking pictures scene whereas it occurred.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo handled the active scene as a hostage state of affairs and as if kids were no longer at risk, while 19 police officers waited within the school hallway outside the classroom the place the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and faculties police departments proceed to sit down for interviews and provide statements, however Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for 2 days, Considine stated.