Drenched in her friend’s blood, 11-year-old survived Texas massacre by playing dead
A toddler adds her respects at a memorial to Uvalde's child martyrs. Photo: Getty
Miah Cerillo’s teacher and classmates were dead or dying around when she realised that showing any sign of life would be her death sentence.
So she drenched herself in a murdered friends’ blood and played dead while she waited and waited for police rescuers to storm the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Miah, 11, told CNN she and a friend called the 911 emergency number from her dead teacher’s phone on Tuesday, and waited for what “felt like three hours” for officers to arrive at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
The 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, was inside the school for more than an hour before he was shot dead by US Border Patrol tactical officers.
Law enforcement officials have provided new details of a confusing and sometimes contradictory timeline that has angered and frustrated parents and onlookers who had urged police to charge into the school.
Miah said after Ramos moved from one room into the adjacent one she could hear screams and a lot more gunfire, and the gunman then started blaring music.
Quick-thinking Miah Cerillo saved her life by covering herself in a slain classmate’s blood and playing dead. Photo: Lone Star/Twitter
The children who survived the attack, which killed 19 students and two teachers, described a festive end-of-the-school-year day that began with innocent laughter and ended in terror.
Fellow student Samuel Salinas, 10, told ABC’s Good Morning America he and other classmates pretended to be dead after Ramos opened fire on the class. Samuel was hit by shrapnel in his thigh.
“He shot the teacher and then he shot the kids,” said Samuel, who was in teacher Irma Garcia’s class.
Ms Garcia was killed in the attack and her husband, Joe Garcia, died on Thursday of an apparent heart attack.
Gemma Lopez, 10, was in a classroom down the hall when Ramos entered the building.
She told Good Morning America a bullet came through her classroom wall before any lockdown was called.
Her best friend, Amerie Garza, died in the rampage.
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