Police – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An exterior door at Robb Elementary College did not lock when it was closed by a trainer shortly before 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 mentioned a trainer had propped the door open shortly earlier than the shooter entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

They've 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 Safety. But, Considine stated, the door didn't lock.

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

Investigators confirmed the element by way of extra video footage reviewed since last Friday’s information conference 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 mentioned the trainer initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her cellphone and name 911 when the gunman crashed his truck on campus.

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

San Antonio legal professional Don Flanary informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information that the Robb Elementary Faculty employee, 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 meals from a automotive to a classroom, the attorney stated.

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

Funerals are planned for the next two-and-a-half weeks for the 19 children and two teachers 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 imagined to be locked,” Flanary said.

Flanary didn't instantly return telephone messages left at his office from The Related Press.

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

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Division of Public Safety, has stated Arredondo handled the energetic scene as a hostage scenario and as if youngsters have been not at risk, while 19 cops waited within the faculty hallway outdoors the classroom where the shooter was.

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

Different officers in the Uvalde city and colleges police departments continue to sit down for interviews and supply statements, but Arredondo has not responded to DPS requests for two days, Considine said.