Parkland survivor gives harrowing testimony at Kavanaugh hearing

Aalayah Eastmond, a survivor of the February mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., on Friday offered harrowing testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the final day of the hearing on the nomination of President Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. 

She expressed concern about Kavanaugh’s views on guns, noting that she thinks he would strike down any assault weapons ban. She urged the committee to appoint a judge who will keep Americans safe from gun violence.

She told the committee in grave detail about the day a gunman opened fire in the classroom she was in and how she used the body of a classmate who had been shot to shield herself from the bullets. 

{mosads}“I followed every movement of his body,” she said. “When he fell over, I fell over with him. I then placed myself underneath his lifeless body. Placing his arm across my body and my head underneath his back. Bullets continued flying.”

She also slammed Kavanaugh over reports that he refused to shake the hand of a slain classmate’s father earlier in the week.  

“If Kavanaugh doesn’t even have the decency to shake hands with the father of a victim, he definitely won’t have the decency to make life-changing decisions that affect real people,” she said. 

Turn up the volume and listen to @AalayahEastmond‘s powerful testimony on her experience as a gun violence survivor in Parkland. She brought me to tears as I was sitting in Judiciary Committee listening to her story.

I hope Brett Kavanaugh was listening too. pic.twitter.com/bWT8M0F3Gk

— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) September 7, 2018

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the Parkland shooting, has accused Kavanaugh of refusing to shake his hand when he tried to introduce himself to the nominee on Tuesday.

The White House pushed back on that account, saying security intervened, but Guttenberg has said he’s certain Kavanaugh asked his security detail to remove him from the hearing room.