YARMOUTH — Students from North Yarmouth Academy participated in a student-led walkout Friday morning, joining their counterparts at schools around the country in marking the 19th anniversary of the fatal shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
The 1999 shootings at Columbine, in which 12 students and one teacher were killed, marked the beginning of an era of deadly school shootings.
More than 100 NYA students walked out of class and lined up along Main Street for 13 minutes to support efforts to end gun violence in schools.
“Instead of taking a certain stance over legislation, our message is that no matter what, school shootings need to end,” student leaders said in a statement.
“Seventeen people, between students, teachers, and faculty, lost their lives around two months ago in Parkland, Florida, in a school shooting. Through this walkout, we want to show our support for the family, friends and loved ones who have suffered a loss due to a school shooting. On top of showing our support, we want to make a statement that this is no longer acceptable and we, as a generation, will not be passive and watch it continue.”
The nationwide walkouts Friday were sparked by Lane Murdock, a 16-year-old at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, who began an online petition calling for the protest following the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 14 students and three staff members dead.
Organizers said an estimated 150,000 students protested Friday at more than 2,700 walkouts across the country, including at least one in each state, as they sought to sustain a wave of youth activism that drove a larger round of walkouts on March 14, The Associated Press reported. Activists behind that earlier protest estimated it drew nearly 1 million students.
In Florida, one planned student walkout was canceled at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, on Friday morning after one student shot another in the ankle, according to the Ocala Star-Banner. The injured student was treated by paramedics; the alleged shooter was taken into custody.
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