An 11-year-old girl was forced to smear herself in her dead friend’s blood and play dead in a desperate effort to survive the Texas school shooting.
Brave Miah Cerrillo acted quickly to survive when evil 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered into Robb Elementary School, in Uvale, Texas and gunned down 19 children and two teachers.
The little girl reportedly arrived late to school on Tuesday, after a doctor’s appointment, and an hour later was caught up in the horror.
She witnessed the attack up close and saw her teacher and some of her classmates slaughtered.
After her friend was shot Miah laid on top of the girl, who was still breathing at the time, to pretend they were both dead, The Washington Post reported.
She also used the blood of an unknown female friend to make herself look like she’d been hit by a bullet. Tragically, her friend later died, her dad Miguel Cerillo confirmed.
Speaking to Click 2 Houston, Miah’s aunt, Blanca Rivera, said: “Miah got some blood and put it on herself to pretend that she was dead. My sister-in-law said is that [Miah] saw her friend full of blood, and she got blood and put it on herself.”
Miah has been left deeply traumatised after witnessing the bloodbath that saw her classmates massacred.
She also sustained some injuries and was left with bullet fragments in her. Ms Rivera said: “My brother said she had bullet fragments in her back.”
It was also reported that she was taken to hospital for treatment but has since been released.
After her release she was reportedly doing fine until the trauma of the school shooting hit her. Ms Rivera said Miah’s mother rang her to tell her that it all “hit” the youngster.
She said: “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.”
Ms Rivera told Click 2 Houston: “At this point, we just have to pray and ask God to help us move forward through this situation. I know it’s traumatising and having an 11-year-old go through this, I can’t imagine what she’s feeling”.
The harrowing details of the survivors emerge as questions are being asked about the response of law enforcement to the shooting.
Local police have come under fire because of how the shooter remained in the classroom for an hour despite the fact armed police arrived only four minutes after he got to the school.
When officials were confronted in a public press conference about the specifics of how Ramos was barricaded inside the classroom, they didn’t answer.
While the gunman was inside the school, “numerous” armed policemen were outside of it, with videos emerging showing them stopping parents going inside after their children.
Further horrific details reported by The Washington Post said that the police outside the school, handcuffed, tackled and even pepper sprayed parents desperate to get in, as the shooting was unfolding.
One mum, who was handcuffed by officers, described the scene as officers tackled one dad to the round and pepper sprayed another.
She was able to convince officers to uncuff her and then took matters into her own hands, jumping the fence and racing into the school to save her two children herself.
Victor Escalon, south Texas regional director of the state’s department of public safety admitted there’s a chance officers could have gone in sooner and said: “There are a lot of possibilities. There were numerous officers at that classroom. Once we interview all those officers we’ll have a better idea.
“Could anyone have gone [into the classroom] sooner? You have to understand, this is a small town.”
