Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Survivor Describes Being in Classroom Where Shooter Fired; Questions, Criticism Mounts Over Police Response to Shooting; Eisen Says, Children Murdered Because Easy Access to Assault Rifle. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2022 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Changes, nothing changes.

[07:00:02]

All right, New Day continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I'm John Berman in Uvalde, Texas. Brianna Keilar is in Washington this morning.

And we do begin this hour with a CNN exclusive, a perspective we have not heard before, an 11-year-old survivor who saw the worst of the carnage and wanted to share her story to help other children.

Now, we've been talking to the family of 11-year-old Miah Cerillo, who was wounded in the fourth grade classroom. Miah wants the world to know what she saw, what she lived through. But Miah is so scared of men right now because of what happened, that she only feels comfortable speaking with women. She also did not want to go on camera.

She did agree to speak with my partner, CNN Producer Nora Neus. Nora, you were in with Miah and her mother. I want to make clear her mother was there the whole time. What did she tell you?

NORA NEUS, CNN PRODUCER: So, 11-year-old Miah Cerillo was in that fourth grade classroom that we have heard so much about with Ms. Garcia and Ms. Mireles. She said they were watching Lilo and Stitch because it was the end of the school year, they had finished their lessons. And she said one of her teachers got an email that there was a shooter in the building and went to the door and he was right there and they made eye contact.

BERMAN: The shooter made eye contact with the teacher?

NEUS: With the teacher and he shot out the window in the door. And then Miah says it just happened all so fast. He backed the teacher into the classroom and he made eye contact with the teacher, again, looked her right in the eye and said goodnight and then shot her and killed her.

BERMAN: He said goodnight before he shot her? NEUS: He said goodnight. And then it happened pretty fast after that as well. He started open firing in the classroom. He hit the other teacher, a lot of Miah's friends. At that point, Miah was hit by fragments of the bullets. You could even see them yesterday, I mean, on her back, on her shoulders, the back of her head.

BERMAN: The shooter then, she says, went into the adjoining classroom.

NEUS: Yes. So, he went through these doors to the adjoining classroom, and at that point, Miah could hear screams, she heard a lot more gunfire and then she said she heard music. She thinks it was the gunman that put it on. He started blasting sad music.

And I asked her like what was that? What kind of music? What do you mean by that? And she said -- she just said it sounded like I want people to die music.

BERMAN: She said she heard music, she said it sounded like I want people to die music. What did miah do then?

NEUS: So, she had a friend next to her that she was pretty sure was already dead and was laying on the ground bleeding out. And she put her hands in her friend's blood and then smeared it, she said, all over her body. She wanted to seem like -- she wanted to look like she was dead. She was scared that the gunman was going to come back through that adjoining door back into the classroom and she wanted to be able to play dead.

BERMAN: She also told you that she called 911.

NEUS: Yes. So, after she smeared the blood all over her body, she and a friend went and were able to take the phone off of one of the teachers who had already been killed and they called 911 and they were actually able to make contact with the dispatcher. And they talked to a dispatcher for a little while and told them what was going on inside and Miah kept saying -- telling me that she kept saying we are in trouble, we are in trouble, like please come, please come, we are in trouble.

BERMAN: One of the interesting things you told me is that Miah said to you that she felt like it all lasted for three hours.

NEUS: Yes. She was like, oh, yes, I was in there for three hours. And her mom said, well, sweetheart, I think it was closer to one hour but I'm sure it felt that way.

BERMAN: And what did Miah think the police were doing during this time?

NEUS: She said she thought the police just hadn't gotten there yet, that somehow they just weren't there yet. And she said -- she had been pretty stoic up until this point in the interview, and this was actually when she started getting emotional and started crying. She said, I heard the grown-ups later saying the police were outside and that they weren't coming in. And she got emotional talking to me about this and said, why didn't they come in? Why didn't they save us? The police were outside. She just couldn't -- it was clear in her 11-year- old brain, I mean, in my brain why they wouldn't come in and help and then save her.

BERMAN: So, again, you spent some time with her and her mother. She's obviously just been through the worst thing hopefully that she will ever go through in her entire life. How did she seem to you? How did she look to you?

NEUS: Honestly, not great. She seems completely traumatized.

[07:05:00]

Physically, she's mostly okay. She has these bullet fragments all over the back of her shoulder and her back and the back of her head. She said overnight a lot of her hair fell out in just kind of big clumps from where the bullet fragments had hit. So, she's bummed about that, but just, I mean, completely traumatized.

And her parents are trying to get her some kind of therapy help. They will probably have to drive letter to San Antonio for that. And so they are actually starting a GoFundMe page to pay specifically for that therapy cost. She said she keeps seeing the bodies on the ground. And so that therapy is going to be really important. So, that GoFundMe is on the screen.

BERMAN: I mean, she's been through so much. She saw her teacher killed before her eyes, she saw her friends killed before her eyes. I simply can't imagine.

And then one other thing you told me that just gives us a sense of her state of mind right now, you have an alarm on your cellphone, your alarm went off accidentally on your cellphone while you were talking to her. What happened?

NEUS: I felt so bad. I mean, it just was an accident and she just kind of -- she clearly was kind of triggered by that and her mom said, you know, that's been happening a lot. They were at a car wash yesterday and went to vacuum out the car and she -- it completely set her off. She is not sleeping right now. She's -- you know, the whole interview -- she brought a blanket with her in the whole interview. She just was covering herself in this blanket and it was hot, but it felt like she just was trying to keep herself covered.

BERMAN: And just to be clear one last time, she really wanted -- she wanted to talk. I mean, she didn't want to talk to a man but she wanted to get her story out there. Why?

NEUS: She kept saying that she wants to try to prevent this from other -- from this happening to other kids, that she thought that if she talked to someone, if she did an interview that maybe people would realize what it was really like to be in a school shooting and that maybe something would change, other kids wouldn't get hurt.

And I kept saying you don't have to do this. You don't have to do this interview. You are in charge. This is your decision. But she kept saying, No, I really want to do this.

BERMAN: All right. Nora Neus, thank you for speaking with her, thank you for telling us what she said. Please tell the family that we are thinking of them and we appreciate -- we appreciate them reaching out. So, thank you.

All right, a lot of new information there. We had not heard really the perspective of what it was like to be inside the classroom while it was happening and, frankly, it is just horrific. We have learned much more about the investigation, the timeline from the law enforcement perspective, one that keeps on changing.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz, who has been doing terrific work on that, joins me now with that.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I'm struck by what Nora just said about how the people inside that classroom didn't think the police were there.

BERMAN: Right.

PROKUPECZ: That they weren't -- she was on the phone with 911, but it just -- this is the impression certainly that everyone inside that classroom was feeling and the parents outside this school. And you can understand why. You know, we now have this clearer timeline, which is raising even more questions, John, about the police response, and then as we start to talk to victims who are inside this classroom, trapped in there with this gunman after seeing their classmates being killed, having to fake their deaths to survive. I've heard stories of kids hiding under tables. What were the police doing during those moments?

And so we have a timeline here from the police where they say there's a crash at 11:28 and then there's a 12-minute gap here. In between that gap, there are shots fired by the gunman. And then at 11:40, he enters the school freely, the backdoor is open, he gets inside. And then at 11:44, it's the first officers on scene, they make entry and then it's not for another hour until the tactical teams show up and they eventually neutralize the gunman and kill him.

You know, a lot of questions, John. And so yesterday when the regional director for the police here spoke, I asked him what is it, why have we had so much bad information? Take a listen to that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: Can you explain to us how he was barricaded and why you guys cannot breach that door?

VICTOR ESCALON, SOUTH TEXAS REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: So, I have taken all your questions into consideration. We will be doing updates.

PROKUPECZ: I know but you're here now. You should be able to answer that question now, sir.

ESCALON: What is your name? PROKUPECZ: Shimon Prokupecz from CNN.

ESCALON: Shimon, I hear.

PROKUPECZ: Because we've been given a lot of bad information. So, why don't you clear all of this up now and explain to us how it is that your officers who were in there for an hour, yes, rescuing people, but yet no one was able to get inside that room?

ESCALON: Shimon, we will circle back with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:10:00]

PROKUPECZ: And we will see, John. They're going to circle back with us, okay? But there are still questions. And now hearing the accounts from people who were inside this classroom raises even more questions. What efforts did they make, did the police make, to get through that door? We're told that the gunman was barricaded inside. Well, what did that entail?

BERMAN: Right.

PROKUPECZ: That's a big question here. I understand the officers were taking gun fire, but there was a lull at some point too. The police yesterday said at some point the gunshots stopped, that there was a volley of shots in the beginning and that's kind of what this victim says as well, and then there was a lull, there was a -- there was -- at some point, it stopped.

So, what's going on here and what efforts did they make to get inside that classroom to rescue these kids? There were kids that were alive inside this classroom.

BERMAN: Shimon, you keep asking the questions. We see you now asking the questions. Terrific work, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

In just a moment, we are going to ask some of Shimon's questions, raise these points that are up until now frankly confusing. I will speak with Lieutenant Chris Olivarez on the new details about the investigation.

So, a second grader survived the shooting. He was in a nearby classroom, heard so much of it, but now he says he is traumatized. He says he is afraid of guns and scared that someone might shoot him.

Edward Timothy Silva was hiding in a classroom not far from where his classmates were killed. He and his mother spoke with CNN's Laura Coates about what it was like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDWARD TIMOTHY SILVA, SECOND GRADE STUDENT AT ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: At first they sounded like -- like something like was popping, like kind of like fireworks.

First, a lady came to the classroom and knocked -- knocked on our doors with a purple shirt, she said go and hide, and we turned off all the lights and went to the back of the classroom and put a desk in front of us and we were hiding.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Did you know when the lady with the purple shirt came over, did you know why you were having to hide and close the door and turn out the lights?

SILVA: Yes. I learned that we were having a real drill. Because we practice a lot and I think we -- we were safe because we practiced.

COATES: How many times had you had to practice a drill like that before?

SILVA: Well, we started in kindergarten.

COATES: How long did it feel like that you were waiting to leave the school? And how did you get out of the school?

SILVA: Well, we were running out of the doors because like two police cars were covering our doors if the shooter was going to come in. And then they were just -- we just ran out of the room whenever the cops told us to run.

AMBERLYNN DIAZ, MOTHER: You didn't care about cutting?

SILVA: No, we just started to run. All of us started to run.

COATES: Did your teacher tell you to pray at some point?

SILVA: Yes. I was praying, thinking why is this happening?

COATES: How are you feeling now? How did you sleep last night?

SILVA: Well, I was sleeping with my mom and dad again because I was a little scared.

COATES: What are you afraid of now, Edward Timothy?

SILVA: Well, I have the fear of guns now because I'm scared someone might shoot me.

COATES: Amber, when you hear your son say that, had he expressed that to you before ever, his fear?

DIAZ: No. No, this is my first time hearing this.

COATES: What's that like hearing that?

DIAZ: It breaks my heart because he was asking me does he have to go to school next year, and I just don't want him to be afraid of school. I want him to continue learning and not be scared, you know, of going back to school. Yes, I want him to have a normal life again. Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Sportscaster Rich Eisen is joining the growing calls for commonsense gun control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICH EISEN, HOST, THE RICH EISEN SHOW: We cannot give up on giving our two cents and keeping the pressure on those in power who do nothing about it. Children murdered in their classroom, murdered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You're going to hear much more of his emotional plea. Stay with us.

[07:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: As lawmakers begin bipartisan talks over solutions on gun violence in the wake of the school shooting in Texas, Sports Host Rich Eisen is giving an emotional plea to get something done. This is what he told his audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EISEN: Got home from the Emmy's and I hugged my kids with both arms, partly because I was empty-handed from the Emmy's, but I just hugged them tight because of what happened in Uvalde, Texas, and because I could do it, unlike the parents of all those children who were murdered in their classroom by a lunatic who was allowed to have an assault rifle, because he could and because it's legal and because it was easy.

[07:20:10]

That happened while we were in the Emmy's that night and I was sick to my stomach as the death toll got larger and larger and greater and greater. And many in this business who have a microphone or a platform have spoken about it in the 48 hours since then and I laud all of them and I just want to add this to it, is that we cannot give up. We cannot give up as a society and we cannot give up on giving our two cents and keeping the pressure on those in power who do nothing about it.

Children murdered in their classroom, murdered in their classroom. And you are already seeing the responses from those in power who refuse to do anything about it, saying it's about anything else other than easy legal access to assault weaponry. It's about video games or I'm seeing, you know, Senator Mike Lee from Utah about fatherlessness and Ted Cruz is talking about doorways being unlocked, anything about anything other than doing the right thing on commonsense laws.

I don't care if you've got a gun in your house, people. Unless my child comes there and you don't have it properly stored and locked, then I've got a problem. I don't care. I'm not coming for your guns. I'm not to be demonized about the Second Amendment. I just want a background check on somebody. I want somebody who is 18 and bullied or whatever caused him to be so diseased mentally that he's going to take his anger out on his grandmother and then children, cowering for their lives who just went to school and, by the way, a apparently were watching Moana, that their lives ended, families' lives upended.

How about a background check on him? How about psychological evaluations? You want to talk about mental health? I'm all for that. But it's never about the easy access to this weaponry. And people who say, it's my right to do it, you're open carrying your assault weapons into places of business, how do I know you are not the next serial murderer? How do I know you're not going to create a mass incidence in this place? So, we just prevent it from getting in the hands of the wrong people.

What about a red flag law? What about talking about it? No, no, we're talking about doors and hardening schools. Are you out of your mind? My parents were public school educators. They would not know how to handle a weapon. Anybody in full body armor and an AR-15 would have wasted my mom and dad in two seconds before they got their gun out. Teach them how to do it. Are you out of your minds? You must be out of your minds, anything except looking in the mirror and looking at the real issue here.

Please, for God's sake, do something. And I felt I had to say something and I know a lot of people have said their part, but we can't give up. Keep the pressure on. And I will be honest, I know I do this show every day to take your mind off of stuff, I hope I'm not part of that problem, but I had to talk about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That was Rich Eisen, as we're hearing so many people from the sports world talking about the need for solutions.

There is some new video of the excruciating minutes when parents outside of Robb Elementary School were fighting with police to get inside as their children were under attack. We will speak with one of the officials in charge of the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. Welcome back. I'm John Berman in Uvalde, Texas, this morning in front of the Robb Elementary School. You can see how big the memorial here is now, people coming to visit and lay new flowers whenever they can. This entire town still in mourning, still in grief.

Today was to be the first day of summer vacation for all of these students, all of the teachers here. Instead, the families all planning funerals. There are new details coming to light of what happened in that fourth grade classroom, those two adjoining classrooms.

We just heard the account of one 11-year-old girl Miah Cerillo. This is the first time we have heard directly from someone who survived the shooting inside one of those classrooms. We learned new details about what the shooter said before he killed the teacher. He said, goodnight, and then he pulled the trigger and then opened fire.

We were also told by this survivor that she did call 911, got someone on the line and told the operator, we are in trouble, we are in trouble. She told us it felt like three hours that this was going on inside the classroom.

[07:30:03]

It obviously was only an hour.

She also said she was under the impression at the time that the police.