Hundreds of students from Denver East High School protested at the Colorado State Capitol in the wake of a second deadly student-involved shooting in as many months on March 23, 2023. The day prior, a student shot two adult faculty members before escaping. Police eventually found the student deceased. Students went to ask Colorado's legislators to pass stricter gun control laws including waiting periods, raising the firearms purchasing age to 21 from 18, an assault weapons ban and tougher enforcement of red flag laws.
On Thursday following the shooting at East High School, students, staff and parents from schools across Denver gathered outside the Colorado Capitol.
Hundreds of people swarmed the doors into the capitol toting t-shirts demanding action or showing the East High School logo and signs with pleads to end gun violence.
With two shootings in six weeks at their high school, students practically begged lawmakers with signs and chants to make changes so they can feel safe going to school.
East High School junior Ella Bygrave has an extended spring break due to Wednesday's shooting. After the shooting death of Luis Garcia, 16, outside her school in February, Ella said she was scared it was getting too close to being inside her school.
On Wednesday, it happened inside her school.
Students, parents, lawmakers and media line the second and third floors between the Senate and the House of Representatives during a student protest in response to yesterday’s shooting at Denver East High School, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Denver Police allege Austin Lyle, 17, shot Deans Jerald Mason, restorative practice coordinator and Eric Sinclair, dean of culture, as they searched him.
"We've had four incidents this year with a false report of a shooting, then a shooting outside the school, then a shooting inside the school," Bygrave said. "It just feels like it's getting progressively more dangerous despite our protests."
School Resource Officers presence may be helpful for now, but something else needs to change to have a long-term solution, Bygrave said.
"I don't think SRO's or police in schools is the best solution in the long run, but I think at least for the moment, with everything going on, some safety measures like that need to be taken," Bygrave said.
Ella Bygrave's mother, Rachel Bygrave, teaches preschoolers at Bryant-Webster Elementary School and is scared for both her teenage daughter and her young students.
Students talks with Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez outside of the House of Representatives during a student protest in response to yesterday’s shooting at Denver East High School, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
"After the last shooting, Ella said it was too close to being inside the building. Well now it's inside the building, so something needs to change with both gun violence and school safety," Rachel Bygrave said.
Parent Amy Andrews-Mcmaster, whose son is a sophomore at East High School, said she's considering other options for educating her son as East High School seems less and less safe.
Talking gets exhausting when no action is being taken, Andrews-Mcmaster said.
Andrews-Mcmaster's son told her his teacher at East High School had a tally on the board for how many days it had been since the last incident. On Wednesday when the shooting happened, it had only been nine days, she said.
"It feels terrible to send my son to school," Andrews-Mcmaster said. "It feels powerless because there's nothing we can do or say."
The protest Thursday wasn't just about East High School, but rather about every school in the country and gun violence as a whole, Andrews-Mcmaster said.
Protestors make their way up the stairs in the rotunda during a student protest in response to yesterday’s shooting at Denver East High School, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
"We have a gun epidemic going on in this country and we're talking about the outer things here but really the inner problems need to change," Andrews-Mcmaster said. "What can we do about mental health? What can we do about the fact that there are more guns than people in this country? It's a systemic problem."
Students from various other high schools across Denver attended the protest in support of their cross-city peers.
Yom Kuchdal, 14, came to the protest from Denver South High School to fight for the safety of her peers and herself.
It can be dangerous to protest gun violence and could put students at further risk, but they don't know what else to do to create real change, Kuchdal said.
"We're going to school to get our education and instead we don't know if someone with a gun will take our lives," Kuchdal said. "Something needs to change and I don't think adding police to schools will help anything at all."
Yocabed Smith, 15, from Denver South High School voiced frustration with the government and came to the capitol to make that clear.
East High School junior Abby Colodny, 17, finds a seat in the Senate Gallery while she and other student protestors fill the seats overlooking lawmakers during a student protest in response to yesterday’s shooting at Denver East High School, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
"How am I supposed to feel safe in my school when 10 minutes away there are gun shots?" Smith said. "Deans and teachers and students are being shot and the government isn't doing anything about it, so it seems like we need to."
The protest crowd slowly flooded the inside of the Capitol building with a sea of red East High School shirts, filling in the senate gallery seats, stopping lawmakers in passing to talk about school safety and writing notes to pass to lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
"I'm here because school should be a safe place for people to learn and the fact that this keeps happening and nobody's doing anything about it is ridiculous," West High School freshman Dejane Duran, 14, said.
