Sights and Sounds From L.A. Students Who Joined National Walkout Protesting Gun Violence

Thousands of students across the country walked out of schools to protest gun violence today sending a major message to politicians about stricter gun control. Students across Los Angeles County joined in through walkouts, assemblies, and visual messages.

The #NationalWalkoutDay comes a month after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. The walkouts were intended to last 17 minutes for every victim.

Students from the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, located less than a mile away from Sal Castro Middle School where a 12-year-old student fired a gun hitting 2 students in February, held a news conference calling for the end of random searches in the Los Angeles Unified School District and more funds for counseling, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. They held a moment of silence for the 17 students killed in Parkland.

Mario Ramirez, morning reporter for FOX LA, tweeted out that 3,000 students walked out from Hamilton High School.

On the east side, students at Garfield High School learned their rights and read information about school shootings before they walked out to the field where an assembly was held, wrote Sonali Kohli for the L.A Times.