Local students walkout to protest gun violence

Standing on a raised platform in the Concordia Lutheran High School parking lot, senior Drew Amstutz this morning looked down at hundreds of his peers, some of whom were teary-eyed, as they remembered the deadly school shooting that happened a month ago.

About the same time across town, about 20 students at Wayne High School walked outside, talking about school safety and the Parkland, Florida, massacre that left 17 dead.

Scenes similar to those in Fort Wayne played out in other communities, including Parkland and Washington, D.C., as students participated in a nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence.

Amstutz was particularly sensitive to the Florida tragedy. A girl he will attend college with barricaded herself in a supply closet at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting.

"Her story could have been mine," he said. "Her story could have been yours."

For more on this story, read Thursday's print edition of The Journal Gazette or return to www.journalgazette.net after 1 a.m. Thursday.

asloboda@jg.net

Reporter Matthew LeBlanc contributed to this story.