Texas police have walked back on their claim that a school teacher left a door of Robb Elementary School ajar, which 18-year-old Salvador Ramos used to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers on 24 May.
The change in stance came after her lawyer said on Sunday that though the teacher initially propped the door open to get food from a car, she closed it shut after realising that the heavily-armed gunman was heading towards the school.
The police are now trying to determine why the door, designed to lock itself when shut, did not do so, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“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,” Mr Considine said.
Mr Considine added that the teacher had initially propped the door open with a rock but ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when Ramos crashed his truck on campus.
“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,” Mr Considine said.
Law enforcement officials had last Friday claimed that the shooter had entered the school through a door propped open near the rear of the building.
When the details first emerged, it had stirred controversy about the teacher’s actions and whether she had made a horrific mistake.
However, her lawyer Don Flanary shared the teacher’s version with The San Antonio News-Express, refuting the claim.
“She saw the wreck. 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,” he said.
“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. 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,” Mr Flanary added.
Since the shooting, law enforcement and state officials have struggled to present an accurate timeline and details of the event, with the public criticising the police’s delay in storming the campus to contain the gunman.
It has prompted the US Department of Justice to conduct a critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the mass shooting.
Additional reporting by agencies
