Parkland survivors attend March for Our Lives despite shooting injuries

Two students injured in last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla., attended Saturday’s “March For Our Lives” in Washington, D.C., despite still recovering from their injuries.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Kyle Laman and Ashley Baez attended the Washington, D.C., rally alongside fellow Parkland students and organizers of the national anti-gun violence movement that Saturday saw rallies in all 50 states.

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The Miami Herald reports that the two students attended the rally with about 200 of their fellow Parkland students, with Laman in a wheelchair and Baez using a cane to walk. The two were shot in the foot and leg, respectively, when a gunman attacked their school in February, killing 17 students and faculty.

Freshman Kyle Laman is in a wheelchair after being shot in the foot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. But today as he prepares for the #MarchForOurLives he’s in good company. Jeff Heinrich, the first police officer Kyle saw after the shooting, is pushing his wheelchair. pic.twitter.com/zmj3ZJ8yds

— Kyra Gurney (@KyraGurney) March 24, 2018

Both of them reported feeling overwhelmed by the massive scope of Saturday’s rally in Washington, which organizers estimate was attended by at least 800,000 people.

“I genuinely was afraid to come,” Baez said. “It’s such a big group, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Laman added. “I don’t really know what to expect.”

During the rally, fellow Parkland students, including David Hogg and Emma González, addressed the crowd and called for tougher restrictions on guns while calling out politicians supported by the National Rifle Association.

“I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here as a reminder for you guys to know how much [Sen.] Marco Rubio [R-Fla.] took for every student’s life in Florida,” Hogg began his speech.

“The cold grasp of corruption shackles the District of Columbia,” Hogg added in his remarks. “The winter is over. Change is here. The sun shines on a new day, and the day is ours.”