San Antonio — UVALDE, Texas – We have obtained exclusive video from the hallway of Robb Elementary, capturing the moments leading up to when a shooter entered the school and killed 19 children and two teachers.
The video, which has never been released publicly, further clears the name of a staff member who was quickly accused of propping open a door.
Uvalde CISD was forced to release records related to the May 2022 shooting after a court order, but when organizations including News 4 San Antonio and Fox SA began reviewing those documents, we immediately noticed things were missing.
That video, clearly captured from a camera near the ceiling in the hallway, was not included.
After obtaining the video, we worked to debunk one of the longest-standing myths about the tragedy: that a teacher propped open a door, allowing the shooter to easily enter the building.
That idea was first circulated in a Department of Public Safety press conference a few days after the shooting.
“We’re here to report the facts as we know them now, not to defend what was done or to criticize what was done or the actions taken,” said former DPS Director Steve McCraw.
But what he shared was a false narrative, spread so widely that many people still believe it today.
The exterior door suspected of which we knew the shooter entered was propped open by a teacher.
It’s an allegation that changed Amy Franco’s life forever.
The former educator tells us she has always known that was not true, but because this video hadn’t been released, many people didn’t believe that the door was closed and unlocked.
The video we exclusively obtained shows Franco going outside with a cart, preparing to meet a colleague to bring in supplies for a party the following day.
She props the door with a rock and tells us she brought the cart out to the gate to wait for her coworker.
That’s when she heard the crash,
Franco was outside Robb Elementary when the shooter crashed a pickup truck into a ditch nearby.
The footage shows that at 11:36, Miss Franco runs inside and gets her cell phone to call for help in case someone was hurt.
52 seconds later, Franco comes running back inside as the shooter starts firing shots at her and several men.
As she re-enters, you can see she clearly kicks the rock from the door and pulls on it to make sure it closes.
She then rushes to warn other teachers, while on the phone with 911, knocking on doors and screaming that the gunman was heading for campus.
“There is a guy with a gun! Call the office…” she tells another employee.
The 911 dispatcher asked Franco what the shooter was wearing, so at 11:37:20, we see her go back to the door and continue answering questions.
Police have not arrived at 11:38.
“Please hurry,” she tells the operator, adding that she believes the shooter is on campus. “The kids are running. The kids are running. Come on, guys, come on.”
Franco walks back toward her classroom, still screaming at children to get to their classrooms.
At 11:39:06, she goes into her classroom, still on the phone with 911. The other teacher looks down the hall one more time.
“Get in your room. Get in your room.”
At 11:39:48, both teachers go into their classrooms, and seconds later, the shooter enters.
Video shows there was no rock holding the door open, but the shooter was able to easily open it and walk in.
This video is the same one law enforcement saw before the press conference was held. In recently released documents, we see that the school district was aware that the key details shared by McCraw were incorrect on the same day as the press conference.
In recently-released documents, we see acknowledgement that Franco’s coworkers immediately jumped into action after seeing the DPS news conference.
In an email dated May 27th at 12:38, Franco’s supervisor tells Superintendent Hal Harrell that Franco told authorities the door was not propped open.
The next day, the supervisor again sends an email to Harrell stating that she had been in the hospital that morning with Franco and found her with FBI agents and Texas Rangers. Law enforcement informed them in that hospital room that, after reviewing the school’s surveillance cameras, they could clearly see that she had not left the door propped open, and that she kicked the rock out of the doorway and pulled the door shut.
Emails show FBI and Texas Rangers told Franco and her supervisor at the hospital that the door may have been faulty or it had not been locked from the outside to begin with
Despite that information, it took them another 4 days to retract the false statement. At that point, the damage to Franco was done.
“I didn’t go anywhere for months,” Franco tells us. “I was scared. It wasn’t my fault that those teachers and those babies died. But it’s hard to get it out of your head after someone says something like that… someone with authority.”
Which is why she’s spent years trying to correct the record.
We showed her the video we obtained, and she says it confirms every memory she has of that day.
One thing she wasn’t expecting was how quickly the shooter entered after she closed her door.
“Had I run out… he would have killed me. My death would have been caught on camera,” Franco said.
She says she felt validated examining the footage.
“You can see that sliver of light at the bottom of the door,” Jordan Elder noted as they watched.
“That’s where the rock is,” Franco said. “Every morning and afternoon, they would prop that door open.”
Franco says the door was always propped because it was supposed to be locked. She says she was even locked out at that same door the day before the tragedy.
She has a clear memory of what she did next… but now, she’s seen the proof.
“You can clearly see me kick that rock and then I pull the door,” Franco says, pointing.
The door wasn’t propped when the shooter entered.
“When they said those documents were going to be released, I knew what I was looking for. And when it wasn’t in there, I said they’re lying,” Franco said.
Millions of people watched as DPS Director McCraw said a teacher propped that door open.
“If the whole world saw that McCraw blamed me, then the whole world should see that video,” Franco said.
She wonders how many other lies could be corrected if all the information from that day were to be released.
The school district had a Wednesday deadline to hand over their documents, but our reporters and journalists at outlets across Texas noted that several items still appear to be missing.
Our fight for transparency will continue for the families who lost their loved ones that day, and for people like Amy Franco, whose lives were also changed forever. They’re still seeking answers, and our news organization will do our best to help them reach that goal.