Hundreds of students at a Michigan high school where a mass shooting took place in November walked out of class on Thursday to show solidarity after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Together, they formed a giant U-shape on the football field.
Pupils at Oxford High know the pain of a mass shooting well, after accused gunman Ethan Crumbley allegedly shot four people in November at the school.
“We went through the same thing. I lost a lot of friends. I thought it would be respectful to help other people through it,” sophomore Andrew Sholtz told The Detroit News.
Students stood in silence and hugged during the walkout.
“As a community, our hearts are with Uvalde and we understand why some of our students chose to participate in the national walkout,” Oxford school spokesperson Danielle Stublensky told the Associated Press.
The school said it was aware of the walkout and worked to make it safe.
The demonstration was one of many planned around the country from Students Demand Action, an advocacy group calling for gun reform.
Walkouts and protests are planned nationwide following Tuesday’s shooting in Texas, the second deadliest school shooting in US history.
Ethan Crumbley, 15, is was charged with terrorism and first-degree murder for the Oxford shooting, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
His parents have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors arguing they made a gun accessible to the boy and missed clear signs of mental distress and violent plans. They have also pleaded not guilty.
Whole generations have passed through US schools with authorities making no meaningful changes to gun laws.
The Uvalde school shooting took place ten years after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 28 people were killed in the deadliest school shooting in US history.
Some say this time could be different though.
“In the aftermath of Parkland we worked to find common ground with a Republican Legislature and pass laws that save lives,” David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting, wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “We can do the same in Congress. One of the laws that we passed has been used nearly 6000 times since and has saved lives.”
