Jun 8, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Uvalde shooting survivor testifies: "I don't want it to happen again"

Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grade student at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and survivor of the mass shooting appears on a screen during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing.

Miah Cerrillo appears on a screen during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on June 8. Photo: Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images

Fourth grader Miah Cerrillo, who survived the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, recounted Wednesday what she experienced that deadly day.

Driving the news: "We were just watching TV and then [the teacher] got an email," 11-year-old Cerrillo said in a pre-recorded video to Congress. "She went to go lock the door and he was in the hallway and they made eye contact."

  • The students hid behind their teacher's desk and backpacks, Cerrillo said, and the gunman shot the window between the classrooms.
  • "[He] told my teacher goodnight and shot her in the head" Cerillo said.
  • "When I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend … I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed the blood and I put it all over me," she said.

Cerillo testified that she doesn't feel safe at school.

  • "I don't want it to happen again," she said.

Miguel Cerrillo, Miah's father, also testified Wednesday, urging lawmakers for change in the wake of the deadly shooting.

  • "I come because I could’ve lost my baby girl," Miguel said through tears. "She’s not the same little girl that I used to play with and run with and do everything, because she was daddy’s little girl."
  • "I wish something would change. Not only for our kids, but every single kid in the world because schools are not safe anymore," he said.
  • "Something needs to really change."

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