‘Teacher did not lock the door…’: Officials on Texas shooting as probe on
As the investigation into the Texas shooting continues, the police said that an exterior door at the school was not locked by a teacher – shortly before the gunman used it to enter. Initially, the state police had said that a teacher had “propped the door open shortly before the 18-year-old gunman entered the school” in Uvalde, Texas, reported news agency AP.
However, after investigation, the police have determined that the teacher – who has not been identified yet – had “propped the door open with a rock, but then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus,” reported AP, quoting chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety Travis Considine.
“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,” he said
According to officials, the teacher had propped the door open but had run back inside to get her phone and call 911. “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,” said Considine, as quoted by AP.
Days after the US was plunged into shock amid the mass shooting horror at an elementary school, a Texas police official said that the local police made the “wrong decision” by waiting nearly an hour to go inside the school. While students trapped inside a classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911, the police waited to breach the classroom, said authorities, as reported by AP.
The commander at the scene – the school district’s police chief – had reportedly thought that the gunman was barricaded inside the adjoining classrooms and that children were no longer at risk.
The US witnessed one of the worst mass shootings when an 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, opened fire in an elementary school in Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers. Ramos reportedly had an argument with his grandmother and shot at and injured her critically on May 24. After shooting her, he drove his car to Robb Elementary School and opened fire there. The accused was later killed by the police.
(With inputs from AP)
