Students across the Triangle and around the country walked out of class Friday in an effort to protest gun violence in schools.
"We just got back to school, and we have already faced a mass shooting," Sam Mell, a sophomore at NC State University and a chapter leader for Raleigh Students Demand Action, said. "We lost two children in Minneapolis...and, as someone who grew up in the generation of lockdowns, we cannot allow them to normalize the fact that we are having children dying in schools."
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In late August, a shooter killed two schoolchildren and injured 21 others before turning the gun on themselves at a Catholic school/church in Minneapolis. Robin Westman visited a suburban gun shop the weekend before the attack, but the owner of the store said that his staff saw no warning signs in their interactions.
Several high schools in Wake County participated in the nationwide Students Demand Action effort to protest gun violence.
The participating schools in Raleigh are NC State, Millbrook High School, Leesville Road High School, Sanderson High School and Enloe High School. Sky 5 flew over Cary High School, Millbrook High and Leesville Road High and captured scenes of students assembled around campus.
A notice from Millbrook principal Dr. Brian Saunders said around 1,000 students took part in their protest.
Other participating schools in and around Wake County are Cary High School, Wake Technical Community College RTP Campus, Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnology, Heritage High School and Orange High School.
Schools in Greensboro, Charlotte and Wilmington also partook in the walkout.
Nearly all of them are too young to vote, but hoping politicians know they are coming for the polls and will have gun reform as their main focus for change. Students poured out of class and into courtyards to call for new ideas.
At Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnologies, they held a long moment of silence for the victims at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.
But they quickly went from silent to speaking out about changing gun laws in North Carolina and nationwide.
"Throughout the country, a lot of people claiming it’s necessary to own guns," said Rahul Murgai. "They’re taking it far enough to say people should own guns without permits, without licenses, making it easy for dangerous people to come into schools like ours and do harmful things."
At Knightdale High School, the walkout wasn't as orderly as a fight brought first responders to campus. Students told WRAL News they saw a fight between other students. The school’s interim principal said an administrator received a laceration on the arm while attempting to intervene. Students at KHS were dismissed around 2 p.m.
Biruk Yidnekachew, a student organizer with Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnology, said they are calling for a nationwide assault rifles ban.
He hopes the walkout will make an impact on the community, leaders and local and national lawmakers.
"We want to raise awareness and make it clear that not only do we have a voice, but they're tangible things that can be done in order to respond to what we want," Yidnekachew said. "We want to ensure that these community leaders are seeing what we have to say and doing something about it."
Mell also said they hope the protest will spark attention from state lawmakers.
"I know that state lawmakers currently are trying to override the governor's veto of SB 50," she said. "I would hope, after this, that they actually maintain the governor's veto and they do not override it, because that law is something that is going to put a lot of North Carolinians at risk."
In early June, state House of Representatives voted to repeal North Carolina's concealed carry rules.
Shortly after, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed that bill that would allow North Carolinians over the age of 18 to carry guns without a concealed carry permit. The measure was co-sponsored by the Senate’s Republican leader.
“This bill makes North Carolinians less safe and undermines responsible gun ownership,” Stein said in a statement.
Senate Bill 50 would have repealed the training rules and background checks currently required to get a concealed carry permit and lower the age for carrying a concealed pistol from 21 to 18.