Minneapolis students stage walkout from schools near Annunciation to protest gun violence

Scores of Minneapolis youth left class in concert Friday, along with thousands of students from across the nation, to demand an end to gun violence in the wake of last week’s school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.

Students from Justice Page Middle School and Washburn High School filed out of class for the Students Demand Action protest in Lynnhurst Park, hoisting signs that read, “School is supposed to be safe”, “Silence kills” and “I don’t want to die.”

Some students chanted “Murder is illegal!” as passing drivers honked in support and children from nearby Burroughs Community School abandoned their playground to cheer them on.

Timberlyn Mazeikis, a local volunteer for Students Demand Action who survived a 2023 shooting at Michigan State University that killed three students and injured five others, said Friday’s national protest was organized in response to the Annunciation shooting. Mazeikis, 22, said they’re demanding a state and federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“We know that this is preventable and last week’s shooting involved an assault weapon, which has no place in our communities, our neighborhoods or our schools,” Mazeikis said, adding that such a ban would secure communities across the country.

“Our generation is put in this position of having to live through this and having to die just to get an education, just to worship and be in our churches,” she said. “It’s unfair, and we’re fed up and we’re frustrated. We’re here to create some change.”

Wren Jagdfeld, an eighth grader at Justice Page, walked out of class with a green ribbon tied to her hair in support of Annunciation. She said kids should be safe while learning.

Jonathan Chung, a junior at Washburn High, said gun access should be limited before more people die.

“We can’t keep losing more lives because these are our children, these are the people of our future, and they’ve got to go through all of this. They’re being traumatized every day because they’re watching their peers get gunned down for nothing,” Chung said.

Minnesota schools from Collegeville to Edina participated in the walkout. And at the State Capitol, after faith leaders called for an assault weapons ban, students spilled onto the Capitol steps to speak out and recite poetry.

“We are here to say loud and clear, no more scapegoating,” said Amber Lee, a transgender student at St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. “One person’s violence does not define an entire community. Trans people are not the problem. Hate is the problem. Guns are the problem.”

Mason Yang, a senior at St. Paul Conservatory, said he felt motivated to help organize the students’ march and protest because he’s worried for the safety of his younger brother, cousins and friends.

“I’ve never organized something like this before,” he said. “It’s made me a different person. It’s made me look at people more and notice who they are.”

Howard Dotson, 54, joined in the rally at Lynnhurst Park. As a chaplain, he has helped people through mass shootings in Los Angeles in 2006; Sparks, Nev., in 2013, and now Annunciation. He said banning assault weapons should be a bipartisan issue, and that students deserve to be safe.

“They should not be living with this fear and anxiety when they’re trying to learn. So many kids have PTSD that’s not being treated because of all of these [shootings],” Dotson said. “We failed our kids, so they’re dying on the false idols of the dollar and the gun.”