The 11 year old had bullet fragments removed from her head after the shooting.
An 11-year-old girl had to play dead to survive the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, last month, and on Wednesday, she recounted her nightmarish experience in testimony for Congress.
In a pre-taped interview, Miah Cerrillo said her fourth-grade class was watching a movie when her teacher received an email alerting her of an active shooter (since identified as Salvador Ramos), and the students were told to go hide behind some backpacks.
Shortly after barging in, Ramos shot her teacher and some of her classmates before going into the adjoining classroom, where Miah described hearing gunfire and “really sad” music. That’s when she smeared her dead classmate’s blood all over herself, then called 911 for help from her teacher’s phone.
“He shot my friend that was next to me,” Cerrillo said. “And I thought he would come back to the room.”
Cerrillo would later have to be taken to a specialist in San Antonio to have bullet fragments removed from her back and head. The emotional scars are also still very much present — Cerrillo stated that she hasn’t wanted to leave the house since the tragedy. When asked what changes she wanted made as a result of the harrowing massacre, she said, “to have security.”
Though Cerrillo wasn’t present at the in-person testimony in DC, her father, Miguel Cerrillo, was there on Capitol Hill, and described through tears how the shooting had changed his daughter.
“Today I come because I could have lost my baby girl,” he said. “She is not the same little girl that I used to play with, and run around with and do everything, because she was daddy’s little girl,” he said.
Their testimonies were part of a hearing on Wednesday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which included two panels of witnesses from the mass shootings in Uvalde and a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, last month. The committee is currently investigating the gun violence epidemic in America: So far this year, there have been at least 27 school shootings, and more than 200 firearm-related massacres overall.
But there is some room for change on the horizon, thanks to ongoing talks about new bipartisan gun legislation. The House just passed a sweeping package to raise the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 and restrict ammunition, but it’s unlikely to gain any traction in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expects to finalize an agreement for a less strict deal by the end of the week, which includes enhanced background checks, new incentives for states to pass red-flag laws, and investments in schools and mental health.
While it’s too soon to speculate how many GOP senators would be on board with the proposal, Republican Senator John Cornyn says he’s “optimistic” that there will be more than 60 votes cast, allowing it to pass.
“We have to be realistic about what can pass both chambers of Congress and get the president’s signature,” Cornyn said on Monday.
