Miah Cerrillo, survivor of the shooting in Texas, testifies before the United States Congress Photo: AFP
An 11-year-old girl who survived the Texas shooting two weeks ago that killed 21 people appeared before the United States Congress with a pleaded appeal: “I don’t want that to happen again”.
Miah Cerrillo, who described how she smeared herself with the blood of a murdered classmate so that the 18-year-old who opened fire in her class thought she was dead too, he said he no longer felt safe at schoolat a hearing on firearms regulation in the United States.
When asked in a pre-recorded video testimony what he wanted to see happen in his school, he replied: “Be careful”. When asked if he felt safe at school, she shook her head and said, “I don’t want that to happen again.”
Miguel Cerrillo, Miah Cerrillo’s father, also appeared before the United States Congressional Committee. Photo: AP
Miah’s testimony comes as Congress faces mounting pressure respond to the escalation of armed violence across the country, especially in the form of mass shootings (incidents with at least four dead or wounded, excluding the shooter).
Shock and growing demands for reform
The massacres that took place at the Miah school and, days earlier, in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, have shocked the nationre-launching urgent calls for gun safety reforms.
Miah appeared before the House Oversight and Reform Commission, one of several speakers in what she hopes will be a Heartbreaking hearing on gun violence.
The jury will hear from the survivors and families of the victims of the recent mass shootings, including Felix and Kimberly Rubio, the parents of Lexi Rubio, one of Miah’s classmates who was killed.
Also present will be Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician who treated several victims in Uvalde, and Zeneta Everhart, mother of a survivor of the racist massacre in Buffalo that killed 10 black Americans.
“I hope so all my colleagues listen with an open heart while survivors of gun violence and their loved ones recount one of the darkest days of their lives, “said Carolyn Maloney, chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee.
“Ultimately, this hearing is about saving lives and I hope it will galvanize my colleagues across the political spectrum to pass legislation to do just that,” he added.
A group of Democratic and Republican senators is working on a regulation which, while limited, could become the first serious attempt to reform gun regulation in decades.
News in development
Source: Clarin
