Uvalde: Mass shooting survivors and parents of the school shooting victims share their stories and experiences with members of the United States Congress
Contributed
June 8, 2022
UVALDE, TEXAS (AGN.News) – Uvalde, Texas, a small southwest Texas community of 16,000 residents, 80 miles west of San Antonio, would become the latest in a long line of tests of America’s resolve to confront unity verses division – strength verses weakness as a nation – united against mass shootings.
On May 24, 2022, an 18 year old Uvalde resident attacked a school with weapons of war – killing 19 3rd and 4th grade students and two teachers and wounding 17 others, including three law enforcement officers.
Today, Uvalde mass shooting survivors and parents of victims share their stories and experiences with members of the United States Congress.
Miah Cerrillo, age 11, recalled her experience in an emotional pre-recorded testimony before a congressional panel on U.S. gun violence, which for her began when a teacher told students to hide after seeing the gunman.
Miah said, “He told her [teacher] goodnight, and shot her in the head”. “And then he shot some of my classmates.”
Miah was wounded by fragments in her shoulders and head. She pretended to be dead before using her teacher’s phone to call 911 and ask for police.
“I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed the [her classmate’s] blood and put it all over me,” she said. “I just stayed quiet.”
Miah said, “I don’t want it to happen again”.
Miah’s father, Miguel Cerrillo, said that his daughter is suffering from lingering trauma from the event.
Mr. Cerrillo, with tears in his eyes, added, “She’s not the same little girl I used to play with”. “Schools are not safe anymore. Something really needs to change.”
Lexi Rubio was one of the students who was killed. His parents gave their testimony before the panel.
“Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, ‘I can’t imagine the pain’,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio said. “Our reality will one day be hers, unless we act now.”
This testimony before the panel of the House of Representatives will lead to a debate about a bill before the complete US House of Representatives later today. The bill proposes to raise the minimum age to buy some guns from 18 to 21. Even if the bill passes, the bill is unlikely to pass in the U.S. Senate.
At a gun violence rally in Washington DC, Steven Kling, an army veteran and gun owner who said he feels a “change in the air”.
“There’s evil everywhere,” he said. “But we make it really easy to get guns here. That has to stop.”
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