Iowa teens inspired by Parkland students organize Capitol rally

Some Des Moines area students are joining a national walkout on April 20. In addition to the walkout, a rally will be held at the Iowa Capitol bldg.

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Michael Mitchell stands outside Timberline School in Waukee, where students will join a nationwide walkout later this month. Mitchell has been instrumental in organizing the walkout, and said he's doing it because he feels more needs to be done about mass shootings in United States schools.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)Buy Photo

Michael Mitchell was born three years after the Columbine school shooting.

The Waukee teen doesn't recall the fear that gripped the nation as two teenagers shot and killed 13 classmates and teachers before killing themselves on April 20, 1999.

But Friday morning — the 19thanniversary of the Colorado school shooting — he will walk out of his classroom, down the hallway and out the doors at Timberline School.

Thousands of students in Iowa and across the country are expected to walk out of school Friday to protest gun violence and call on lawmakers to make changes to gun laws.

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Students from schools around the Des Moines area (l-r) Hailey Morawski, Norwalk, Anna Van Heukelom of Roosevelt, Noah Percy of Norwalk, Ava Torres of Hoover, and Sam Spackman of Waukee pose for a photo on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at Smokey Row in Des Moines. The students are organizing a walkout on Friday, April 20, to coincide with the 19th anniversary of the deadly Columbine High School shooting.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

Mitchell was the walkout