parkland school shooting

At vigil for Florida shooting victims, students who survived the attack chant, 'No more guns!'

As thousands of students, parents, teachers, and community members gathered in Parkland, Florida, Thursday night for a vigil to remember the 17 victims killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the teenagers who survived the massacre started chanting, "No more guns! No more guns!"

Arianna Ali, 17, told HuffPost she was inside a classroom at the high school on Wednesday when she heard gunshots, and then screaming. "My class just scattered," she said. "Me and my best friend ran into my English teacher's class and hid in the corner for about 35 minutes, but it felt like hours." She said "stricter gun laws" would have prevented the attack, "especially in Florida, because we have the most relaxed laws." Parent Patricia Jacomini, who said friends of her daughters and son were killed during the shooting, echoed Ali's sentiments, and said she found it "unbelievable" that the alleged shooter, a 19-year-old former student, was able to legally purchase an AR-15 rifle.

Several people spoke during the vigil, including Chicago Cubs player Anthony Rizzo, an alumnus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. "Look, I'm a baseball player, but I'm also an American," he said. "I'm a Floridian. I'm a Parklander for life. And while I don't have all the answers, I know that something has to change before this is visited on another community and another community and another community."