Multiple Phoenix-area high schools to participate in gun violence walkout

PHOENIX — At least six Phoenix-area high schools will participate in a national walkout on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre to honor gun violence victims.

The March For Our Lives National Walkout Day will take place on April 20, according to the website.

The high schools that are scheduled to participate so far are Desert Vista in Tempe, Mountain View in Mesa, Mesquite in Gilbert, Red Mountain in Mesa, Perry in Gilbert and Desert Ridge in Mesa.

Five of the six schools will walkout at 10 a.m. to “honor those who have lost their lives due to gun violence on and off campus.” Desert Ridge will walkout at 9:25 a.m.

“This is a walk out in remembrance of the horrific Columbine school shooting in 1999. We want change, and we are that change,” a post on the site read.

The students, teachers and other supporters will then gather at the Capitol at 3 p.m. for a so-called “die-in” to “demand our legislators address this epidemic and pass reform to prevent this violence from happening ever again.”

Organizers with the Arizona chapter of March For Our Lives, which was behind the protest in Washington, D.C. last month in which hundreds of thousands of people rallied to push for gun control, encouraged others to participate in the die-in, even if their schools were not involved in the walkout.

The organizers were also encouraging participants to register to vote if they will be 18 ahead of the November midterm elections.

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