As Indianapolis students walk out, they say they want schools to feel safe again

Across Indianapolis, students walked out of school for 17 minutes Wednesday, joining a national movement to mark last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed.

Students as young as middle schoolers joined the nationwide movement to raise awareness of gun violence, participating in protests that included school walkouts, silent lie-ins, and readings of the names of students killed in Parkland.

At Northwest High School in Indianapolis Public Schools, hundreds of students walked out of school wearing red in a student-led protest. Some student organizers said they have lived with the prospect of a school shooting since they were very young, and they want school to feel safe for their younger siblings.

Sophomore Zhy’yon Hoover said she was in elementary school when the shooting in Newtown happened, and she is frustrated that lawmakers have not done more to stop shootings.

“It just keeps happening,” she said. “It keeps happening over and over. People need to start realizing that there needs to be change.”

Dylan Peers McCoy

Tyree Smith, a senior, said he felt safe at Northwest. But he is afraid for his younger siblings. “If there’s somebody going in a little elementary school or preschool shooting up them little kids, I’m worried about my little siblings,” he said.

Abiodun Akinseye, a senior, said the goal of the protest is to bring safety back to schools.

“School is supposed to be the safest place a student can come,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem that way anymore. I feel like that’s such a huge problem, and it seems like not many people want to talk about that.”

While many Central Indiana districts, including Indianapolis Public Schools, allowed students to protest without punishment, others strongly discouraged the walkouts or arranged for alternative ways to memorialize the students who died in Parkland.

For a group of Indianapolis students dedicated to ending street violence, the day was one piece of a broader movement to increase gun control and reduce gun violence.

Here’s a look at walkouts and reactions across the city: