A group of protesters stood outside the school board meeting Tuesday night protesting against guns in schools. Video by Malcolm Denemark
Karly Hudson, a junior, speakers to a crowd of about 20 students from Melbourne High School who briefly walked out of class Friday to honor the anniversary of the Columbine massacre.(Photo: Courtesy Karly Hudson)
Twenty students from Melbourne High School in Brevard County walked out of class Friday morning marking 19 years since the Columbine High School shooting.
The students recounted the massacre at Columbine, an event none of them are old enough to remember. At the time, it was the worst school shooting in U.S. history. The shooting unfolded when two teens went on a shooting spree, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others before turning their guns on themselves.
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Friday's walkout at Melbourne High was organized by Karly Hudson, a junior at the school, who has become involved in the anti-gun movement led by the Parkland survivors. She organized the March for Our Lives rally across the Eau Gallie Causeway last month — drawing 3,000 participants — and has spoken at recent Brevard County School Board meetings.
More than 2,300 similar demonstrations are planned across the country, the latest mass protest since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead.
"We decided to hold the walkout at Melbourne High today to remember those who lost their lives at Columbine 19 years ago and to notify our peers about the school board's plan to arm school staff," Hudson said, referring to the marshal