‘Goodnight’: Texas massacre survivor, 11, reveals gunman’s chilling death message

A 4th grader who smeared herself in blood and pretended to be dead told how Salvador Ramos terrified victims before shooting them in the head.

Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grade student at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and survivor of the mass shooting appears on a screen. Picture: AFP.

Smearing herself with a friend’s blood, Miah Cerrillo played dead as Salvador Ramos pointed his rifle at a teacher’s head and delivered a horrific threat before pulling the trigger.

“He … told my teacher ‘goodnight’ and then shot her in the head,” she said.

The 11-year-old told a US Congressional hearing the excruciating details of how her 19 classmates, and two teachers, were executed by the 18-year-old mass shooter, and how she survived to call 911.

The class had been watching a movie and scrambled behind their teacher’s desk, clutching their backpacks, as Ramos burst into the room.

“And then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard,” Miah continued in the prerecorded testimony to House Oversight Committee.

Miah Cerrillo appears on a screen during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence. Picture: AFP.

“When I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend who was next to me and I thought he was going to come back into the room so I grabbed a little blood and put it all over me.”

After playing dead and remaining silent, Miah waited for the moment to grab her dead teacher’s mobile phone and call 911 to plead for help.

“I told her that we need help — and to see the police in our classroom,” she said.

Her 911 calls became the subject of scrutiny over the response of Uvalde police and the timeline of events, which changed as facts emerged that contradicted the earliest reports from law enforcement.

At least a dozen officers stood idle as Miah continued to call 911 for help.

Asked by her father, Miguel Cerrillo, what she wanted to happen in the wake of the shooting, she asked “to have security”.

“I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.

Mr Cerrillo appeared in person before the hearing, “The Urgent Need to Address the Gun Violence Epidemic”.

Salvador Ramos before he killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Picture: Supplied.

“I could have lost my baby girl,” Mr Cerrillo said. “She is 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.”

Democratic politicians are proposing a “Protecting Our Kids Act” to raise the age limit of semiautomatic weapons from 18 to 21, ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, expand background checks and institute “red flag laws”.

The measures are similar to those called for by Hollywood A-lister Matthew McConaughey in an emotional speech at the White House.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio showed the last photo that was taken of her 10-year-old daughter, Lexi Rubio, to call for the expanded laws so other parents don’t have to relieve the same horror.

“I can still see her, walking with us toward the exit. In the reel that keeps scrolling across my memories, she turns her head and smiles back at us to acknowledge my promise. And then we left,” she said crying.

Miah Cerrillo (right) evaded the shooter by going into “survival mode,” her family said. Picture: KPRC/ NBC

“I left my daughter at that school, and that decision will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Dr Robert Guerrero, a paediatrician who attended to several child victims, said “no prayer” will ever relieve what he found at the hospital.

“Two children, whose bodies had been pulverised by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart,” he said.

“That the only clue as to their identities was blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them. Clinging for life and finding none.”

Miguel Cerrillo, father of Miah Cerrillo, testifies before Congress. Picture: AFP.

The hearing also heard from families of victims of the Buffalo shooting that left 10 people dead.

Garnell Whitfield Jr, whose mother Ruth Whitfield was killed in Buffalo expressed anger at the lack of progress being made in Congress.

White House Democrats plan to pass legislation on gun reforms, they don’t have the 60 votes needed to pass them through the Senate.

“You expect us to continue to forgive and forget over and over again? And what are you doing?” Mr Whitfield said to Senators. “You were elected to protect us and protect our way of life.”

Originally published as ‘Goodnight’: Texas massacre survivor, 11, reveals gunman’s chilling death message