Uvalde school shooting: Reports reveal Robb Elementary teacher did not keep the door open before the shootout

Investigators in the Uvalde, Texas shooting initially alleged that a teacher of the Robb Elementary school had kept a door open, which allowed the gunman to enter the school premises. However, according to the latest police reports, the teacher had closed the door.

Before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, investigators said the unnamed teacher propped the door open with a rock and did not clear the path by removing it.

According to Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, the instructor, who has not been identified, removed the rock and closed the door when she learned there was a gunman on campus, but the door did not get locked.

A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said,

"Surveillance video and audio verifies the teacher removed the rock holding the door open and closed it. She slammed it shut."

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Uvalde teacher did not leave the door open before the massacre

According to Considine, the teacher propped the door open at first, then hurried back inside to fetch her phone and contact 911 after Ramos crashed his truck.

He went on to say,

"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, removing the rock when she did. 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."

In between the killing spree, the parents of students pleaded with police to let them into the school to save their children as authorities and Uvalde residents surrounded it. They were frustrated by what they saw as the authorities' reluctance. Victor Luna, the father of a Robb elementary student, demanded that the authorities provide him with body armor so that he could tackle the matter on his own.

Reportedly, several parents claim they were handcuffed and tased while attempting to force police officers into the school premises in Uvalde.

According to sources, this latest testimony on "door was not propped open by Uvalde teacher" was released on Tuesday, a week after a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School, killing 19 children and two teachers in the country's bloodiest school shooting in a decade.

Texas officials have come under fire for both their response to the massacre and their public explanations of what transpired, which have included statements, details, and narratives that officials later altered, revised, or removed entirely.

Additionally, authorities said law enforcement officers who invaded the classroom eventually shot and killed the attacker; however, an autopsy report has not been disclosed.

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Uvalde officials deflect blame to school employees

On Friday, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw seemed to imply that a staff error played a key role, claiming that an anonymous instructor had previously propped open a door used as an "entry point" by the gunman.

He said:

"The back door was propped open. It wasn't supposed to be propped open; it was supposed to be locked."

Police have also been slammed for not chasing the gunman more aggressively while he was inside with children crying for rescue on the phone to 911.

McCraw said the school district's police chief, Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, had determined the gunman. He explained:

"The gunman transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject, so there was a delay of more than an hour before officials stormed the classrooms. It was the wrong decision."

The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas said in a statement on Tuesday that,

"There has been rampant false information being released surrounding the attack. There has been a great deal of false and misleading information in the aftermath of this tragedy in Uvalde."