UVALDE, Texas — The Robb Elementary School teacher who propped open an exterior door that law enforcement said a gunman used to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers had closed the door but it did not lock, state police said Tuesday.
Investigators initially said the teacher had propped the door open with a rock and did not remove it before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. Investigators have now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus but that it did not lock, said Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
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Considine said the teacher initially propped the door open but ran back inside to get her phone and call 911 when Ramos crashed his truck.
“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, Considine said.
He continued: “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.”
San Antonio attorney Don Flanery told the San Antonio Express-News that the Robb Elementary School employee, whom he's not naming, closed the door shut after realizing that a gunman was on the loose.
“She saw the wreck,” Flanary told the newspaper. “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.
“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.”
Who were the victims?
- Eva Mireles, 44, was one of the first victims identified in the Uvalde school shooting. She was a fourth-grade teacher.
- Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, was a third-grader at Robb Elementary. Her cousin, Jackie, was also killed in the shooting.
- Xavier Lopez, 10, had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.
- Layla Salazar, 11, loved to swim and dance to Tik Tok videos.
- Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed.
- Rogelio Torres, 10, was killed in the shooting.
- Eliahna García, 9, died in the shooting.
- Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10, also was killed and her aunt noted Neveah’s first name is Heaven spelled backward. Her cousin, Jailah, was also killed in the shooting.
- Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, was looking forward to her last softball game of the season before she was killed Tuesday.
- Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10, was among the victims. She was Neveah's cousin.
- Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10, was helpful around the house and loved his younger siblings. Jose loved baseball and video games and “was always full of energy.”
- Amerie Jo Garza, 10, was a happy child who made the honor roll and loved to paint, draw and work in clay.
- Maranda Mathis, 11, was “very loving and very talkative.”
- Alithia Ramirez, 10, was among the victims.
- Irma Garcia, 48, was also killed in the shooting. She taught at the school for 23 years. According to reports, she died while shielding her students from the shooter.
- Jackie Cazares, 9, was killed in her classroom. She was with a group of five girls, including her second cousin, Annabelle Rodriguez.
- Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, loved school and was killed in the shooting.
- Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, was also killed in the shooting.
- Tess Marie Mata, 10, loved TikTok dance videos, Ariana Grande, the Houston Astros, and having her hair curled.
- Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10, recently made the honor roll with all As and received a good citizen award.
- Maite Rodriguez, 10, especially liked physical education, and after she died, her teacher texted her mother to say she was highly competitive at kickball and ran faster than all the boys.
Who was the gunman?
Ramos is from Uvalde and had previously hinted on social media that an attack could be coming. Ramos “suggested the kids should watch out.”
Before heading to the school, Ramos shot his grandmother with two military-style rifles he purchased on his birthday.
The attack began at about 11:30 a.m. when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The motive for the shooting is currently unknown.