CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Shelby Daniels and her 12-year-old cousin Gio Rodriguez headed to the Bee County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday to finally speak about the horrifying ordeal they experienced on Sunday.
The 13-year-old saved her cousin's life after the young boy had used a sharp knife to remove some staples from the back of a picture frame. The knife slipped and ended up severing the artery and his medial tendon in his wrist.
"The blood was just dripping everywhere." Rodriguez said. "They say it looked like a murder scene in the house. There's still some dried up blood around the house, but we can get that out."
Daniels said she learned her lifesaving skills through a program called 'Stop the Bleed.' It's offered by the Bee County Sheriff's Department as part of its Junior Deputy program.
"[I] Took a lot of towels and I just wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and hold a lot of pressure," she said. "And I was just like, trying to make him seem, it was just a little cut. But even though it was not a cut. I saw it and . . . was like, ok, gotta keep calm."
Sheriff Alden Southmayd told 3NEWS he's so proud of Daniels and happy to have had the Stop the Bleed program as part of his Junior Deputy curriculum.
"You know, we, we've always been proud of our Junior Deputy program and we feel like it's made a lot of changes in young people, but this particular incident just kind of puts a top on it," Southmayd said.
Ryan Trevino is a patrol sergeant with the sheriff's office and teaches the Stop the Bleed program. He said what Daniels did was exactly what she was taught in the class.
"So every time we, we teach a Stop the Bleed course she will pop up and this, this scenario will be brought up," Trevino said.
Rodriguez's mom told 3NEWS her son had to be halo flighted to a San Antonio hospital to have vascular surgery.
Trevino said this was such a serious situation that if Daniels had not stopped the bleeding, her cousin would have been dead in two or three minutes.
3NEWS asked Daniels if she expected to be honored for her actions.
"[I'm expecting] Nothing because it's just something that I knew how to do and I shouldn't get nothing out of this because why would I get something," she said.
Southmayd said he's looking to honor the young teen at the next county commissioner's meeting.
In the meantime, Rodriguez is scheduled to have another surgery later this week as part of his recovery from this horrific accident.