Lawyer says Uvalde teacher didn't leave a door open before the Texas school shooting, refuting another changing police claim

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[TigerClaws]

A Robb Elementary School employee did not leave a door open to the building before last week's deadly school shooting in Uvalde, her lawyer said, refuting authorities' previous claims as the department faces backlash for its changing story around the massacre.

Attorney Don Flanary told San Antonio Express-News reporter Guillermo Contreras on Tuesday that the unidentifiable employee did prop open a door to the school, but shut it when she saw the gunman, who eventually entered and massacred 19 children and two adults on May 24.

Flanary told the Express-News that the employee remembers kicking away the rock used to prop open the door and pulling it shut as she spoke to police about the gunman shooting outside the school.

"She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting," he told the newspaper. "She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked."

Director of Texas Department of Public Safety Steven McCraw alleged on Friday that security footage shows the back door of the school was propped open before the shooting, and the gunman used it to enter the school before barricading himself in a classroom.

McCraw described the person who propped open the door as a teacher, who he said called police at 11:30 a.m. that morning after the gunman crashed his vehicle in a nearby ditch and shot at passersby.

Three minutes later, McCraw said the gunman entered the school through the door.

Texas Department of Public Safety didn't immediately provide a response to the teacher's claims.

Since last week's mass shooting in Uvalde — the country's deadliest at an elementary school since Sandy Hook in 2012 — law enforcement officials have made crucial changes to the attack's timeline at least a dozen times.

Enraged parents have questioned why it took over an hour for officers inside the school to confront the gunman; the latest explanation from Texas DPS pointed the finger at the school's police chief who was leading the response, who McCraw alleged refused to send police in because he thought no children were in danger.

[Western Phil]

You have identified one of the greatest weaknesses of this design. In addition to not being able to tell if the door is really locked, I do not know if there is any way to electronically monitor if the autolock is activated. (I am not a door lock wizard, but am quite familiar with the standard system you describe.)

My guess is that practically every school in the country has that auto locking system and are susceptible to walk-ins.

[deks]

RE: Pause on the first second of this video. Who are those two guys to the [right] of the frame?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dark vertical lines are directly under a tree. They’re not people’s legs. They are the four trunks of a multiple trunked tree. You can see it on Google maps street view across the street from the school.

[Texan5]

Ay, que sorpresa-that employee lawyered up in record time-and with all the blame games being played, looks like the lawyers are going to have a huge payday...

[philman_36]

From the same article...

Uvalde police, school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting: Sources

Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said, "The Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago." They better not mess with the Rangers.

[Jane Long]

Thanks for that post.

I’ve been asking…for days … where are the Texas Rangers??!

You’re exactly right! Don’t mess w/the Texas Rangers.

[philman_36]

Think of the poor person who has to step into this s**t storm
because the man in charge/responsile is leaving that position!

[Jane Long]

The entire handling of this horrid situation has been a complete fluster.

[philman_36]

The entire handling of this horrid situation has been a complete fluster.

And the legislative push for more laws, before the midterms I might add, is going to be harsh.
Manipulation and monopolization on the death of innocents. That's twisted.

[Apparatchik]

What are you talking about? You can push on the door from the inside to make sure it locked.

[TigerClaws]

13 or so seconds in you see one or two sets of legs - trees aren’t split apart like that - as the video starts to zoom in.

https://www.wlox.com/video/2022/05/26/facebook-video-said-show-shooter-enter-texas-school/

The shooter was engaged. Then he wasn’t engaged. Then there was 12 minutes of shooting before he entered. But there was a firefight without his being engaged?

Where’s the video from the school exterior?

[deks]

RE: “you see one or two sets of legs - trees aren’t split apart like that”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many types of trees are split into multiple trunks at the base...you’ve never seen this?

I found the exact angle on the “street view” that matches the point of view of the video. Then turned it 180 degrees to see the location from which the video was taken — a second floor window. The multi-trunked tree is right there in the field of view.

Notice the “figure” on the right, of the two — if a man, then his right “leg” flares out wide at the bottom like “bell-bottom” trousers, while the left “leg” is skinny and perfectly straight like a pole.

[deks]

The address across the street is 420 Geraldine St Uvalde Texas

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.2000216,-99.7893349,3a,75y,0.93h,80.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVLZvTOQPC1DW3ZgPkexXsA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[deks]

The shooter in the video (linked at your reply #14 above) is on the grassy area between the parking lot and the school...

Google street view, from the same angle as the video

Then turning Google street view 180 degrees to the house across the street (420 Geraldine St) -- looks like the video was taken from a second floor window on the side of the house. The multi-trunked tree is seen on the left.

In that video from second floor window, a stub of the severely pruned tree in front of the house is briefly seen at 0:11, and the multi-trunked tree is also seen on the right at 0:11 -- the video at 0:11 seconds...

Zooming in on the tree in the video with four trunks (not four human legs)...

The same tree seen from the opposite side in Google street view (a different angle, so the spacing of the tree trunks differs appropriately)...

My conclusion is that the dark lines are tree trunks, not human legs, and not two men watching the shooter enter the school from across the street.

𝖉

[Riley85]

Kind of hard to explain but I’m talking about doors with a push bar, which most schools have.
A push bar always opens the door whether it’s locked or not.
So if she pushed on it from the inside the door will open. She can’t tell whether it’s locked from outside.
They are usually always locked unless someone uses a key to unlock it. But locked or unlocked from the inside the push bar opens the door.

[deks]

That makes sense. I have also used this type of door...you can’t get in from the outside ‘cause it’s locked, but somebody can push on the door’s push bar inside to let you in.

[TigerClaws]

That’s some fine internet sleuthing.

I believe you are correct. Never seen a tree like that but it looks to be a split trunk.

I stand corrected, sir.

Explains why he wasn’t engaged beforehand.

I read together the grandmother worked at the school which is why he chose that specific one. Perhaps he’d been there before.

Amazing someone just happened to film his entrance.

[21twelve]

I mentioned your excellent observations (and time) on another thread where I too thought it was two people. Another observation - the utility pole is on the same side of the street as the tree trunks (Google earth). From the upstairs’ video I thought it was on the other side of the street closer to the school!

[deks]

I’m an amateur at it. I was able to focus on this one aspect. I’m not trying to analyze the whole thing this time though.

The placement of the utility pole did have me wondering. It does appear to be on the school side in the video. Could be an optical illusion or an anomaly, or maybe the poles have been changed or moved since the Google truck passed by.

I remember after the Boston Marathon bombing looking for clues in the available photos. And later someone did spot both brothers in the crowd before the explosion. I remembered that I had walked past that spot on the sidewalk a few months earlier.

[Apparatchik]

You’re still not getting this. When the door closes, you push on the door, not the push bar to check if it’s secure. In fact, you can even use the push bar to pull the door closed, instead of just letting it swing shut.

Jeez.

[immadashell]

"She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting," he told the newspaper. "She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked."

She should have put up the “Gun Free Zone” sign also. That would have stopped him in his tracks! Right?