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Unlocked doors were ‘first line of defense’ at Uvalde school
AP ^ | 6/23/22 | HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

Posted on 06/23/2022 2:43:04 PM PDT by conservative98

The Uvalde massacre began after the 18-year-old gunman entered the school through a door that could only be locked from the outside then got inside a classroom that had a busted lock, experts testified Tuesday.

Securing doors has long been a focus of school safety drills, and the inability to do so during the May 24 attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead is raising alarms among experts and politicians.

When doors are not secure, “your first step, your first line of defense has now been eliminated,” said Ken Trump, the president of the National School Safety and Security Services.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt said unlockable doors make lockdowns and shooter training worthless, adding that there was “zero obstacle to the shooter.”

[cut]

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE GUNMAN REACHED THE OUTSIDE DOOR?

[cut]

Nearly a month after the rampage, Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, further amended what his agency’s investigation shows: The teacher did close the door, but unbeknownst to her, it could be locked only from the outside.

The gunman “walked straight through,” McCraw said Tuesday in blistering testimony at a state Senate hearing in Austin.

Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, said he was “astonished” that the exterior door could only be locked from the outside. He likened it to a house that could only be locked from the outside.

“Shouldn’t the security of the school be as safe as the security of your home?” he asked.

Experts did not explain during the hearing why the school’s exterior door locked from outside. Robb Elementary is an older building, constructed in 1955.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; doors; govtabuse; robbelementary; school; texas; uvalde
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1 posted on 06/23/2022 2:43:04 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

[cut]

Once inside the school, the shooter then entered a classroom though a door that was designed to be locked from the outside, according to McCraw, who also said a teacher reported before the shooting that the lock was broken.

“This is ridiculous and it’s inexcusable,” McCraw said of the fact that the classroom door could not be locked from inside.

Stephens and Trump also raised alarms about the fact that the door was broken, describing it as a maintenance issue.


2 posted on 06/23/2022 2:43:25 PM PDT by conservative98
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Obviously, the fault of the NRA.


3 posted on 06/23/2022 2:46:25 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: conservative98

So much stupid going around that day.


4 posted on 06/23/2022 2:48:03 PM PDT by madison10
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To: conservative98

We’re there Gun Free Zone signs posted? If so, did they do any good? Maybe, just maybe they did the opposite! The shooter had no worries there might be an armed staff or faculty member who could ruin his day.


5 posted on 06/23/2022 2:50:27 PM PDT by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives: Ban Gun Free Zones)
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To: conservative98

If the outside door was locked there wouldn’t have been a massacre.


6 posted on 06/23/2022 2:51:25 PM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: conservative98

“This is ridiculous and it’s inexcusable,”

Yes it is at least every day we hear about more and more failures that contributed to the disaster.

Now at a loss for words on how much more could have gone wrong.

Just trying to think, is there something wrong with all the “tactical” training LEO receive?


7 posted on 06/23/2022 2:53:17 PM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: madison10

Just remember, all that stupid was committed by government employees that are impossible to fire and have no incentive to do their jobs well.

They get paid the same regardless of performance.


8 posted on 06/23/2022 2:54:46 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: conservative98
The latest version of the ever-changing Uvalde story.

Can't wait to hear next week's version.

9 posted on 06/23/2022 3:00:31 PM PDT by TChad ("Joe, we should evacuate the civilians before the military. You understand that, right? Joe?")
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To: conservative98

I think they’re still lying.

The video looks like the door is open. He doesn’t stop and then move out of the way of the door if he was opening it.


10 posted on 06/23/2022 3:00:36 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: conservative98

This begs the question of why police didn’t enter the classroom right after the gunman. Nobody thought to check if the door would open????


11 posted on 06/23/2022 3:00:46 PM PDT by Missouri gal
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To: conservative98

Silly people it’s not like doors and locks can be changed or something....

As I’ve said before and this hearing has proven it true: “You don’t need a gun to protect you, because the Police are only 77 minutes away.”


12 posted on 06/23/2022 3:01:43 PM PDT by Kartographer (“We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor”)
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To: conservative98

Sounds like a fire code violation. Every exterior door I’ve seen in a school has panic hardware on it and defaults to locked..from the inside.

They also swing to the outside, which is another fire code requirement.


13 posted on 06/23/2022 3:02:06 PM PDT by brianl703
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To: Republican Wildcat

School doors don’t lock? Resulting in tragedy?

Clearly the only logical response is to take away the defensive rights of law-abiding citizens.


14 posted on 06/23/2022 3:02:34 PM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
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To: conservative98

There is a lot that went wrong. And the response was inexcusable. But never forget that the cause of all this was the lunatic himself.


15 posted on 06/23/2022 3:03:20 PM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: conservative98

He didn’t even hesitate when going for the outside door.

No half steps, no switching of hands. No inkling of caution.


16 posted on 06/23/2022 3:06:20 PM PDT by combat_boots
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To: brianl703

Yeah, it is ridiculous to even believe that the classroom doors would lock from the outside. After every class did the kids have to wait to leave until someone from outside the class unlocked the doors?


17 posted on 06/23/2022 3:08:04 PM PDT by jpp113
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To: immadashell
According to a survivor, this was a U.S. Marshalls operation. The USM protected the shooter from people who were willing and able to take him out much earlier.
18 posted on 06/23/2022 3:08:35 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: conservative98

And most panic hardware, you have to use a hex key (from the inside) to keep it from locking. Insert the hex key, turn it, and it locks the push bar down so it won’t latch.


19 posted on 06/23/2022 3:09:18 PM PDT by brianl703
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To: jpp113

Yes, and even more ridiculous to believe that an exterior door could only be locked from the outside.


20 posted on 06/23/2022 3:10:33 PM PDT by brianl703
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