Madison Students Rally for Safer Schools after Abundant Life Shooting

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Hundreds of Madison students walked out of class Friday to protest gun violence in schools. 

Two were killed in the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Madison’s east side Monday. While it was a private school, the tragedy has impacted the entire community. That includes the students who sit in schools every day, wondering if they’re safe. 

About 300 students rallied at the state Capitol Friday. 

“People from MMSD schools, mainly East and West, are coming here to protest the gun violence that happens at schools every day,” said Emma Tyler, a freshman at East. “[We’re] trying to get the state legislature to do something about it.” 

“It’s sad for the parents not knowing [if] their kids are coming home,” one La Follette sophomore told us. “They send their kids to school thinking they’re safe, and they don’t even know.”

“School shootings are becoming more and more frequent now. My brother’s school was only three minutes away from where that is, and he’s a second grader,” another sophomore said. “I also hear about some of my friends being like ‘let’s get a gun’ and all this kind of stuff, I feel like it’s so able now to get this kind of stuff, it just enables them.” 

District administrators had alerted parents about the walkout via email. They told parents they expected that students would return to school after the demonstration.