A teacher at Robb Elementary School has been left feeling traumatised and ‘heartbroken’ after officials mistakenly said she had left a door open, in turn allowing Uvalde shooter Salvador Ramos inside.
Last month, Ramos killed 19 children and two adults when he opened fire at the Texas school, before being shot dead by police – who found 1,657 rounds of ammunition in his possession.
Officials initially made incorrect statements claiming one teacher had left a door propped open, which became the route Ramos used to enter the building.
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Steven McCraw, director of the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a press conference after the shooting: "The teacher runs to the room, 132, to retrieve a phone, and that same teacher walks back to the exit door and the door remains propped open.”
However, just days later the claim was taken back, with Ericka Miller, Texas Department of Public Safety press secretary, confirming to ABC News that investigators determined that the teacher did close the door, but that it did not lock.
The teacher’s lawyer, Don Flanary, said she is ‘heartbroken’ over the early claims about her supposed involvement in what happened.
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He told the outlet: "It's traumatic for her when it's insinuated that she's involved, the door open. She's heartbroken."
Flanary said that before the shooting, the teacher walked out of the door to get food from a colleague outside.
She saw the gunman crash a Ford pickup truck and exit the vehicle, heading towards the school with a gun.
Flanary explained: "She sees him throw a bag over the fence and he has the weapon, the gun, around his chest. He hops the fence and starts running at her."
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The attorney said the teacher then ‘immediately turns and she runs inside, kicks the rock out, slams the door’.
When back inside the school, Flanary said the teacher heard gunshots, adding: “She thought she was going to die herself. She was waiting for him to come in. Obviously she's heartbroken with all the lives lost."
McCraw has previously admitted police made the 'wrong decision' by not storming the school sooner, confirming there was a 40-minute gap between the arrival of the police unit on site and the moment they entered the classrooms.
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In spite of 911 calls from a teacher and students inside the classrooms, McCraw said the on-scene commander considered gunman Salvador Ramos barricaded, and not in an active shooter situation.
During a press conference on Friday 27 May, he said: "If I thought it would help, I would apologise."
McCraw said as many as 19 police officers had gathered outside the classroom, but made no effort to get inside as they believed 'no [more] kids were at risk' by then.
They also thought 'there was time' to get the keys to the classroom from the school janitor.
Topics: US News