Ohio Student: ‘It’s Just Too Much Death For No Reason’

Students at several Northeast Ohio high schools staged walkouts Wednesday, a week after the deaths of 17 people at a Florida school.

Nearly 50 students at Lakewood High School were among the teens protesting gun violence and calling on federal lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws.

“Make the requirements harder,” 18-year-old senior Mohammed Abdelsalam said. “Make the requirements harder because an 18-year-old or a 19-year-old shouldn’t be able to have an assault rifle.”

Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz was arrested in connection with the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He’s accused of using an assault-style rifle to kill more than a dozen students and teachers.

Lakewood Junior Rebecca Parth helped organize the protest that she said grew organically overnight through social media. Despite not being old enough to vote, the 17-year-old said she wanted her fellow students’ voices to be heard.

“I think it should be the representatives listening to the people, but in order for that to happen, the people have to speak first,” Parth said. “So, we just need to scream loud enough until the representatives listen.”

Parth said the effort was supported by the faculty at Lakewood High School, located in a suburb on the west side of Cleveland.

“The Florida deaths alone were too much. That coupled with all previous school shootings, which there’s not too much done about it, it’s baffling,” 17-year-old Sean O’Neal said outside the high school. “It’s just too much death for no reason.”

Protests also took place on school campuses in Westlake, Mentor and Willoughby, as well as schools near Cincinnati and Columbus.