Thanks to misinformation from a top Texas Department of Public Safety official, a teacher at the elementary school where a mass shooting occurred last week was falsely blamed for allowing the shooter into the school.
During a press conference following the May 24th mass shooting, Texas DPS director Steven McCraw accused the teacher of having left a door propped open at Robb Elementary School, thus making it easy for the gunman to enter the building.
To hear McCraw tell it, the teacher, a woman, went outside to retrieve something, saw the shooter, and then ran back inside without closing the door.
The claim wound up being spread far and wide:
BREAKING: Texas DPS announces that a teacher at Robb Elementary School propped a door open at the school before the mass shooting. The school resource officer drove to campus after hearing 911 call, inadvertently drove right by the shooter, who was kneeling down by car. @FoxNews
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 27, 2022
To recap:
– Teacher propped open locked door shooter walked in
– SRO wasn’t on campus
– 20 officers were in the hallway at the school
– Chief of police held officers and border patrol back bc he thought there was no longer an active shooter while kids were calling 9-11.— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 27, 2022
Everybody wants to blame guns for the Uvalde shooting, nobody wants to condemn the teacher who disobeyed security protocols and propped a door open for the perpetrator to enter. Why?
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) May 31, 2022
The gunman was also able to enter what would have otherwise been a locked door to the school because a teacher propped open the door. Why exactly hasn’t been explained. This is just a series of disastrous decisions.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 27, 2022
It’s been 5 days since the Uvalde tragedy. Has anyone heard why the teacher propped open the door?
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) May 29, 2022
But his claim was pure misinformation, according to the teacher’s lawyer, Don Flanary, who said in an interview with ABC News that, while it’s true she’d opened the door to retrieve something from outside, she’d immediately shut it upon going back inside.
“[P]rior to the shooting, the teacher walked out the door to retrieve food from a colleague outside, where she saw the gunman crash a gray Ford pickup truck, then exit the vehicle and head her way, toward the school, armed with a gun,” ABC News reported Thursday, citing Flanary’s remarks.
“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,” Flanary said.
However, according to Flanary, she then “immediately turns and she runs inside, kicks the rock out, slams the door” shut.
“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,” Flanary said.
But she’s also traumatized and heartbroken over McCraw’s misinformation.
“It’s traumatic for her when it’s insinuated that she’s involved, the door open,” he said.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, surveillance footage proves that the teacher is telling the truth.
“A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said surveillance video and audio verifies that the teacher removed the rock keeping the door open, then closed it,” the outlet reported.
“She slammed it shut,” the unnamed law enforcement source said.
Critics are now accusing DPS of having purposefully lied and arguing that McCraw needs to apologize to the teacher:
The teacher did NOT leave the door propped open. The police representative lied to the American people. The Robb Elementary teacher was easily vindicated by video surveillance. #UvaldePoliceCowards #Inners #UvaldeMassacre
— THEE Honorable Grandma 🍷 (@JoeKamalaTicket) June 1, 2022
You should be ashamed of yourselves for sacrificing a teacher’s integrity to shield yourself from the culpability of failing to protect the school children in Uvalde! you’re disgusting!
— LisaM (@astrogirl8686) June 3, 2022
@TxDPS You owe the teacher an apology for saying she left the door open
— Jo Blo (@wtfisthat4) June 1, 2022
He slandered a teacher. WE NEED APOLOGIES.
YOU MUST. The teacher kicked the rock and the door closed.@DHSgov @DHSgov @TxDPS @TxDPSSoutheast @TheJusticeDept pic.twitter.com/uoCxoq6pWk— D. Lewis ( DAY 100. Save Ukraine!) 🌻🇺🇦🌻 (@DHipgecko) June 2, 2022
That being said, it appears the door may have been unlocked — which is a separate but equally relevant issue.
“The source said investigators are trying to determine if the door was unlocked earlier or if its lock was not working because the gunman used the same door to get into the school, go down the hallways and into adjoining rooms 111 and 112,” according to the Express-News.
“The source said at least one other school employee has reported to federal agents and DPS that at least one other door in the building did not lock, and investigators are looking into that report. Investigators also have received reports that another entry/exit door into the building was open during school hours, the source said.”
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