The aunt of an 11-year-old Robb Elementary School student said her niece survived Tuesday’s shooting by covering herself in her classmate’s blood and pretending to be dead.
Fourth-grader Miah Cerrillo witnessed her teacher and classmates die Tuesday during the tragic Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, aunt Blanca Rivera said, according to KPRC. Cerrillo went into survival mode after seeing them shot, Rivera said, the outlet reported.
Eleven-year-old Miah Cerrillo is struggling to cope with the loss of her teacher and friends following the tragic shooting at a Uvalde elementary school Tuesday. https://t.co/G7AGC3LVnd
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) May 26, 2022
“My sister-in-law said that [Miah] saw her friend full of blood, and she got blood and put it on herself,” Rivera told KPRC. (RELATED: Witnesses Of Texas School Shooting Begged Police To Go In, Suggested Just Rushing In Themselves)
Cerrillo wasn’t shot but was hospitalized with injuries, including bullet fragments in her back, the outlet reported. She is having trouble coping with the horrific event, the aunt told KPRC.
“Around midnight, my sister-in-law called me, and she was just crying like, ‘I think it just hit Miah. I think everything came to reality. We’re home, and she’s just crying and having a panic attack,'” Cerrillo’s Aunt told the outlet. “At this point, we just have to pray and ask God to help us move forward through this situation. I know it’s traumatizing, and having an 11-year-old go through this, I can’t imagine what she’s feeling.”
The 11-year-old’s father, Miguel Cerrillo, told the Washington Post he panicked when he saw a law enforcement officer carrying his daughter out of school covered in blood.
Miguel Cerrillo said the officer took his daughter into a yellow school, where he could only speak to her through the window, according to the Washington Post. He also reportedly said his daughter described witnessing her classmate get shot and deciding to lie on top of the girl to make the shooter think she was dead.
After the shooting, his daughter was still gripped with fear and later told him that he needed to get his gun because “[the shooter is] going to come get us,” the father told the Washington Post.
“We figured Uvalde was safe,” he told the outlet. “Now we know it’s not safe.”