19 of her classmates, as well as two teachers, were killed during the school shooting in Texas on May 24. The perpetrator, an 18-year-old, was shot by police. On Wednesday, fourth-grader Miah Cerrillo told her story to a panel at the US Congress. The explanation was recorded on video. There, the 11-year-old told about the eerie drama that unfolded inside the school building. She said, among other things, that the teacher asked the students to hide when the shooting began. – Hide, she said (to us), and Cerrillo explained how the students hid behind backpacks and the teacher’s desk. Struggling with nightmares Cerrillo most likely survived the shooting by smearing himself with the blood of a friend who had been killed, and then playing dead. She then called 911 (the emergency number in the US) with the teacher’s phone and asked the police. – I said we needed help. – He shot my friend who was next to me. I thought he (the perpetrator) would come back, she said. In the recording, Cerrillo replied in the negative that she now feels safe at school. In the video, she was further asked what she wanted to get out of the mass shooting. “To be able to feel safe,” she replied. Miah Cerrillo is struggling with nightmares and injuries from shrapnel in her back, as well as the trauma from the incident, her father, Miguel Cerrillo, said in an interview with USA Today. A strongly moved father, Miguel Cerrillo, also attended the hearing on Wednesday. Photo: POOL / Reuters – Schools are no longer safe The father also testified in Washington and said that Miah had changed since the shooting. He called for a change in the gun law to protect children at school. Congress is under strong pressure after the many mass shootings in the United States. Many demand stricter gun laws. – I came because I could have lost my girl, said a moved father. “I wish something would change,” he said. – Schools are no longer safe. The committee’s leader, Democrat Carolyn Maloney, says the hearing is being held to look for solutions to the problems of mass shootings. – The nightmare of school shootings must end. We will hear directly from those affected by the recent mass shootings. They want action, and so do we, says Maloney. Both survivors and relatives will share their stories with the panel, including Felix and Kimberly Rubio, the parents of Lexi Rubio who was killed at the school in Uvalde.
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