North Richland Hills
Students walked out of classes across North Texas Friday morning to peacefully remember the 19th anniversary of the mass killing at Columbine High School in Colorado, while at the same time demanding lawmakers to protect people from gun violence.
"It was personal to us. We experience gun violence in our everyday lives," said Jocelyn Mays, 17, a senior at Fort Worth's Dunbar High School, where students walked out at 10 a.m. and marched along a nearby street.
Dunbar students prayed for and remembered Tiara Williams, a former Dunbar student who was fatally shot in December not far from the high school on Ramey Avenue.
To them, gun violence is personal.
At the same time Friday, in lockstep with students across Texas and the nation, dozens of Richland High School students marched from their classes to the campus football field where they participated in 13 minutes of silence and released 13 orange balloons to remember the victims of Columbine.
"It is very tragic that they lost their lives in a place that was supposed to be safe for them," said Alex Maclean, 18, a senior at Richland High who helped organize Friday's event.
The walkouts were the latest in an ongoing push by students to get lawmakers to change our nation's gun laws to better protect schools.
The student activists weren't born when two teens attacked the Colorado campus on April 20, 1999, but they say they know too well the fear of a mass shooting. The Columbine tragedy marked the first time the nation collectively asked if children are safe in U.S. schools.
Sadly, there have been many reminders since then, the latest coming on Valentine's Day at a high school in Parkland, Fla., when 17 people were killed by a gunman.
Students walked out of high schools across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, from Allen High to Fort Worth Paschal to Colleyville-Heritage high schools. In the Birdville school district, students walked out from three high schools. In Fort Worth, middle school students at McLean, Leonard and Benbrook Middle-High School also took part in events. About 35 students at Tidwell Middle School in Roanoke also participated in a 20-minute demonstration.
One Texas lawmaker, Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, responded to the walkouts with a plans to draft law that will punish schools by making them return state funding if students participated in the gun control events.
"...We will be seeking solutions to ensure they do not receive tax dollars for those students not in attendance," Cain said in a press release.
'We will keep fighting'
Students at Keller High and Keller Central High schools weren't allowed to walk out, however, because of threats made Thursday on social media.
A letter was sent to parents of students at Central, explaining the reason for canceling the event.
"I wanted to inform you that we have received multiple reports from parents about rumored text messages threatening potential violence against our school. As a result of this, we are asking students to remain in school today and not participate in any student-organized walkout activities," reads the letter, which is signed by Central Principal David Hinson.
Keller Police Chief Mike Wilson said police presence at Keller High has been increased but did not address the source of the threat.
Dakota Rudzik, a student at Central who helped organize the walkout there, said he was "extremely disappointed," and not just because the event had been canceled.
"But also because we've stooped to the low of terroristic threats to quash opposing political expression," Rudzik said in a text message to the Star-Telegram. "But don't mistake this for the end. We will keep fighting."
Central students had planned to walk out of the main entrance of the school so their voices could be heard and they could be seen, but administrators told them to conduct their walkout in the courtyard and said that media would not be allowed on campus.
Then came the cancellation.
School district spokeswoman Nicole McCollum said no threats were made against the district's Fossil Ridge or Timber Creek high school campuses.
Parents of Eaton High School students in the Northwest school district also received a campus safety message related to social media threats the district investigated. The letter from Superintendent Ryder Warren said that a student admitted to "joking" via text to another student about a possible threat to the school. A third student apparently spread the threat via social media, according to the letter.
"These kinds of 'jokes' will not be tolerated," Warren wrote.
Earlier this week, a peaceful demonstration at Eaton turned chaotic when students unveiled a Confederate flag.
At Dunbar, it's personal
Dunbar students said gun violence is an issue they live with everyday. Students who participated in the walkout alluded to cases involving family members, neighbors and friends. Many recalled Williams, a former Dunbar cheerleader and graduate who was shot to death.
Williams was seated in the back seat of a car when she was struck in the back by a bullet that wasn't meant for her. The shooting stemmed from an argument between two men in the 6000 block of Prothrow Street. Williams was not involved in the argument.
Williams was rushed to the nearby Stop 6 Food Store, less than a mile away, to get help before she was pronounced dead. On Friday, students marched near that site.
"They made it personal and focused on violence in their community," said Dunbar Principal SaJade Miller, who accompanied the students in the march after it became clear some 100 students were walking out.
Miller sent a letter to parents in which he detailed the events and said that students who did not return to campus were marked absent for each period missed. Absences are unexcused.
'Great voter apathy'
Student activists are sending their message against gun violence just weeks after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Students emphasized the importance of continuing the push for stronger laws to protect schools from gun attacks. They also moved the message to another level of community involvement through the power of the vote and community service.
"We are going to focus on telling people to vote and how important it is to register to vote," said Maclean, the Richland student. "There is great voter apathy."
At Colleyville-Heritage HIgh School, students met at the front of the school at 11:10 a.m. to urge action against gun violence. Dozens of students stood around the school flagpole. Some wore orange. At one point, they chanted: "What do we want? Gun Control! When do we want it? Now!"
"Living in suburban Texas, it can feel like our voices are overwhelmed by opposition," said Colby Schmidt, a senior at Colleyville-Heritage, told the Star-Telegram in a statement. "This walkout showed me that there are so many young people who believe in common-sense gun reform just like me. We will no longer be silent because this is a massive movement, not just here in North Texas but all across the country."
Schmidt said the movement won't stop "until we see the change that we are pushing for."
Voting was also on the minds of Dunbar students who marched a total of 3.5 miles Friday.
"We are able to make a difference with our vote," Mays said.
Student activism has been an ongoing movement among teens nationwide after the shooting in Parkland, including teens in Tarrant County.
Students at Southlake Carroll walked out of class in March. Earlier this week, students at Eaton High School held a campus demonstration about gun violence and school safety, but that event got out of hand after a Confederate flag was displayed and skirmishes ensued.
Staff writer Stephen English contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published April 20, 2018 10:50 AM.