Students Walk Out for Florida Shooting Victims

Seattle Central College students and faculty walked out of classes Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM to observe a 17-minute vigil for the 17 students slain in the Parkland, Florida shooting on February 14th.

MaryAnn Barker and Omar Osman, from the Associated Student Council, read one victim’s name at the top of each minute of the otherwise silent vigil.

“We were trying to give respect to those who were killed … If we look at those who’ve been killed rather than the killer or the gun itself, it makes it a little harder to say that guns should be easily accessible,” Barker said.

Students and teachers across the United States walked out Wednesday to commemorate the lives lost in America’s most recent deadly school shooting. A full day of protest is planned for April 20th of this year, which marks the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School Shooting in Littleton, Colorado.

Seattle Central’s Associated Student Council is working with other local schools to help plan a march in Seattle. There have been 25 fatal high school and elementary school shootings since Columbine.

Johnny Horton contributed to this article.