Texas school shooting survivor, 11, tells Congress ‘I don’t want it to happen again’ after seeing teacher die

Miah Cerrillo, 11, told the US Congress that she pretended to be dead after gunman  Salvador Ramos murdered her teacher and classmates
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An 11-year-old girl who survived the mass shooting at a primary school in Texas last month has told a heading how she covered herself in blood and pretended to be dead after the gunman murdered her teacher and classmates.

Miah Cerrillo, a pupil at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, told lawmakers at the US House Oversight Committee hearing in a pre-recorded video that she watched a teacher get shot in the head before looking for a place to hide and “just stayed quiet”.

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She told the House panel that guman Salvador Ramos “told my teacher ‘goodnight’ and shot her in the head”.

She added: "And then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard. He shot my friend that was next to me... and I thought he would come back so I covered myself with blood.

“I put it all over me and I just stayed quiet.”

Miah Cerrillo said she played dead to survive the shooting in Texas (Photo: News4JAX / YouTube)Miah Cerrillo said she played dead to survive the shooting in Texas (Photo: News4JAX / YouTube)
Miah Cerrillo said she played dead to survive the shooting in Texas (Photo: News4JAX / YouTube)

Miah said she called 911 using the deceased teacher’s phone and pleaded for help.

In the video on Wednesday, Miah’s father, Miguel Cerillo, asks his daughter if she feels safe at school anymore.

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She shakes her head in response and when asked “why?” she says: “I don’t want it to happen again”.

The hearing also included testimony from the parents of the multiple young victims killed and wounded in recent mass shootings in the US as lawmakers work to find a compromise gun safety bill.

A total of 19 children and two teachers died when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos  opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle inside the school on 24 May.

The massacre was just one of a spate of mass shootings across the US that has left dozens dead.

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On Tuesday, a Senate panel heard from the son of an 86-year-old woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a racist attack on black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, on 14 May. Ten people were killed in the shooting.

US lawmakers working to strike gun safety agreement

Miah’s testimony comes as lawmakers work to strike a bipartisan agreement on gun safety measures in the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings.

Carolyn Maloney, the panel’s chairwoman, called the hearing to focus on the human impact of gun violence and the urgency for lawmakers to enact gun control legislation.

She said: “I am asking every member of this committee to listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories about how gun violence has impacted their lives.

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“Our witnesses today have endured pain and loss. Yet they are displaying incredible courage by coming here to ask us to do our jobs.”

The panel also included testimony from Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son Zaire was wounded in the Buffalo mass shooting.

Ms Everhart told lawmakers it was their duty to draft legislation that protected Zaire and other Americans, and said if they did not find the testimony moving enough to act on gun laws, they had an invitation to go to her home to help her clean her son’s wounds.

She said: “My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back, and another on his left leg.

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“As I clean his wounds, I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life.

“Now I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children.”

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