Robb school teacher DID NOT leave door open amid Uvalde massacre, Texas police clarify
In the latest development in the Uvalde school shooting investigation, the teacher, who police first said pushed open a door that let the shooter Salvador Ramos enter Robb Elementary School and kill 19 students and two instructors, had actually closed the door, according to state troopers.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has found that the anonymous Uvalde teacher propped up the door with a rock at first, but then removed it and locked it after recognizing a gunman was on campus, according to Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas DPS, who informed AFP. "We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock," Considine told the outlet. "She came back out while on her phone, she heard someone yell, 'He has a gun!', she saw him jump the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran back inside," Considine further added. According to The Texas Tribune, Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw first stated on Friday, May 27, that the gunman entered the school through a backdoor that had been propelled open minutes before the shooting.
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According to the Associated Press, detectives determined the teacher did indeed close the door after evaluating more camera evidence. "She saw the wreck," Don Flanary, an attorney of the unidentified teachers, informed San Antonio Express-News that the shooter was involved in an automobile accident outside the school. "She ran back inside to get her phone to report the accident. She came back out while on the phone with 911. The men at the funeral home yelled, 'He has a gun!' She saw him jump the fence, and he had a gun, so she ran back inside," Flanary said.
Investigators are also attempting to speak with Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who state police say was the scene commander during the school shooting. The Associated Press has reached out to Arredondo for comment, but he is yet to respond.
Arredondo told AP that the active scenario was a hostage situation and as if students were no longer in danger, according to McCraw, the chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety, while 19 police officers waited in the school corridor outside the classroom where Ramos was. The emphasis of the probe has switched to Arredondo and the police reaction, according to McCraw, who termed it a "poor judgement."
Other policemen from the city and school police agencies in Uvalde continue to be interviewed. "She kicked the rock away when she went back in," he added. "She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting. She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked."