For Miah Cerrillo, a split-second choice may have saved her life in a terrifying tragedy.
The 11-year-old student at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, recalled the morning of May 24, when a 18-year-old gunman opened fire in her classroom.
Miah told CNN that after the gunman had targeted her fourth-grade class—taking the lives of teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, as well as many of her friends—he moved to an adjoining classroom. While he was next door, Miah said she and a friend managed to grab their teacher’s cellphone to call 911, telling the dispatcher, “Please come … we’re in trouble.”
Fearing he would return, Miah said she took blood from a slain classmate and rubbed it on herself to play dead.
The grade schooler recalled laying on the floor for what felt like hours under the assumption police had not yet responded to the shooting. When Miah was finally rescued, she was taken to a the hospital for treatment of bullet fragment wounds, per CNN.