A 10-year-old boy who had been shot during the Kansas City Super Bowl rally detailed his survival Thursday on NewsNation from the tragedy and stated why he decided to speak up.
Kansas City resident Samuel Arellano and his family members appeared on “Cuomo” to discuss his recovery from nearly being shot in the lung while attending the Super Bowl rally on Wednesday. NewsNation host Chris Cuomo began by asking the 10-year-boy how he has been since his recovery from the incident, to which Arellano appeared to be verbally shy. (RELATED: Shots Fired Near Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Leave Up To 15 People Injured: REPORT)
“Good,” Arellano stated while smiling.
“That’s it? Just good? You gotta give me more than that, you just lived through one of the scariest situations,” Cuomo teased.
“I’ve been good ever since I got out of the hospital,” Arellano replied.
Cuomo continued to discuss how Arellano quickly responded to the incident that occurred and asked the 10-year-old what he “decided to do” when he realized what had happened. Arellano stated that his response to hide instead of running away was due to his training from his school.
“I [decided] to hide behind the trash can,” Arellano stated, noting that he was seeking to “get cover from the shots.”
Arellano described the feeling of his wound like being “stabbed ten times,” to which Cuomo then directed his questions toward Arellano’s family member, Eunice, who had been with him during the time of the incident. (RELATED: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas Blames Guns After Reporter Presses About Massive Amount Of Police Presence At Parade)
“And Eunice, it was hard to understand in the beginning, right? That you guys got home and Sam was telling you, ‘I’m telling you, I got hit.’ But you didn’t see anything right?” Cuomo questioned.
“Yeah, we felt very confused because as everything was happening there was a lot of chaos. We were like undercover, we were on the floor and a lot of people were stepping on us. It was just a very tragic moment. So whenever he told us that, we thought that they kind of maybe just stepped on him and things like that. So we never expected that,” Eunice stated.
“The only reason why we never thought he got shot was because he wasn’t bleeding or [anything] like that. [It wasn’t] until we removed his shirt that it was more under his armpit [and] we [saw] the gunshot.”
Eunice continued to state that while the doctor’s were as “surprised” as they were, they had explained to the family that the bullet had hit Arellano’s bone and was merely “centimeters away from his lungs.” Arellano concluded to Cuomo that his reasoning for speaking out about his recovery was so viewers could “be careful” of others.
“You want to talk about this. Why Sam? What do you want people to know?” Cuomo asked.
“Be careful,” Arellano stated.
“Be careful, why?” Cuomo questioned
“Because people could have guns in their pocket and anytime they could shoot,” Arellano stated.
Since the shooting occurred, one person has been declared dead and over a dozen others ranging from eight years old to 47 years old have been injured. Authorities stated Thursday that three suspects, which include two juveniles, were taken into custody. Authorities additionally noted that several firearms have been recovered from the site, however, no motive from the three suspects has been released.