Congress on Wednesday morning heard from 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, a Uvalde girl who covered herself in her classmate’s blood and played dead in order to survive the Robb Elementary mass shooting.
In a hearing on gun violence from the House Oversight Committee, lawmakers also heard in-person testimony from Dr. Roy Guerrero, the town’s only pediatrician, who spoke about the horrors of the shooting.
Kimberly and Felix Rubio, the parents of slain student Alexandria “Lexi,” also testified, remotely, on Wednesday morning.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed at the elementary on May 24, just days after the Buffalo supermarket shooting that killed 10 people. Also testifying was Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son Zaire was wounded in the Buffalo shooting.
The testimonies on Wednesday were made in an effort to bring home the impact of gun violence in America.
Watch a video of their testimonies in the video player above and see live Tweets below from KSAT Reporter Leigh Waldman, who is in Washington, D.C., for the hearing.
Miah’s story
On Wednesday in a recorded testimony, Miah recalled how her teacher tried to close the door to the fourth-grade classroom when she realized there was a gunman in the school.
But the gunman had already made his way to the hallway, and they made eye contact, she said. The teacher told her students to hide as the gunman shot the window of the door and entered.
Miah said he told the teacher “goodnight” before shooting her in the head, killing her. He then opened fire in the classroom and went to the adjoining classroom, where he again opened fire, she said.
Several of her classmates were killed. She looked at her deceased classmate, dipped her hands in the blood, spread it all over her body, and played dead, she said.
“(I) just stayed quiet,” she said in the testimony, adding that she was also able to grab her teacher’s phone and call 911.
She told the dispatcher they needed help and told them to send the police.
Miah said she wants schools to “have security,” and she is afraid to go back to class.
“I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.
She nodded yes when asked if she believed the violence is going to happen again at school.
Her father, Miguel, spoke to lawmakers after Miah’s testimony was played. He said his daughter is not the same girl as before the May 24 massacre.
“I came because I could’ve lost my baby girl,” Cerrillo said. “And she’s not the same little girl that I used to play with and run around with and do everything, because she was Daddy’s little girl.”
Parents of slain student call for reform
Felix, a Uvalde County deputy and Iraq War veteran, and Kimberly Rubio testified remotely.
They are demanding gun reform in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.
Through tears, Kimberly Rubio listed possible solutions for America’s gun violence epidemic: expanding background checks, implementing red flags laws, raising the minimum age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle to 21 from 18, and holding gun manufacturers accountable.
They’re also seeking a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.
“We understand that for some reason, for some people, to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children,” she said. “So at this moment, we ask for progress.”
Kimberly Rubio said they were speaking out because it’s what Lexi would have wanted.
She was intelligent, compassionate and athletic, her parents said. She was also quiet and shy “unless she had a point to make.”
“So, today, we stand for Lexi. And as her voice, we demand action,” Kimberly Rubio said.
Uvalde’s only pediatrician says he’ll ‘never forget’
Dr. Roy Guerrero, Uvalde’s only pediatrician, testified first and in person.
He treated eight children that day. Four of them were his regular patients, including Miah. Five other patients of his were among the students killed.
He described in stark terms the horrors of the Robb Elementary School shooting.
“Two children whose bodies have been pulverized by bullets fired at them. Decapitated. Whose flesh have been ripped apart, that the only clue at their identities was blood-splattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none,” he said. “I could only hope these two bodies were a tragic exception to the list of survivors, but as I waited there with my fellow Uvalde doctors, nurses, first responders and hospital staff for other casualties we hoped to save, they never arrived.”
Guerrero said he showed up as not only a witness but as a doctor, whose job it is to protect children.
“To stay silent would have betrayed that oath. Inaction is harm. Passivity is harm. Delay is harm,” he said.
Other mass shooting victims testify
It was the second day lawmakers heard wrenching testimony on the nation’s gun violence. On Tuesday, a Senate panel heard from the son of an 86-year-old woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a racist attack on Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, on May 14. Ten people died.
The testimony at the House Oversight Committee came as lawmakers work to strike a bipartisan agreement on gun safety measures in the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the panel’s chairwoman, called the hearing to focus on the human impact of gun violence and the urgency for gun control legislation.
“I am asking every member of this committee to listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories about how gun violence has impacted their lives,” Maloney said. “Our witnesses today have endured pain and loss. Yet they are displaying incredible courage by coming here to ask us to do our jobs.”
WATCH: Nightbeat coverage from Washington, D.C.
But even as some lawmakers shed tears alongside the witnesses, the hearing displayed the contentious debate over gun control Congress has faced repeatedly after mass shootings. Several Republicans turned the conversation to the individuals who abuse guns and how “hardening schools” could help protect students.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who owns a gun store, said that one of the things he learned in his military service was that “the harder the target you are, the less likely you will be engaged by the enemy.” He called on schools to keep doors locked, provide a single point of entry and “a volunteer force of well-trained and armed staff, in addition to a school resource officer.”
READ MORE: 4th grade Uvalde survivor: ‘I don’t want it to happen again’