NBC Miami
An aerial photo shows students in Miami forming a TM on a football field in protest of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
By Brian Hamacher and Lisa Orkin Emmanuel, NBCMiami.com
Hundreds of students at several South Florida high schools staged walkouts Friday morning in a massive protest against the lack of an arrest in the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Students from Miami Central, Miami Edison, Miami Norland, American Senior, William H. Turner High and Southridge High in Miami and Blanche Ely High School in Broward held walkouts.
Click here for a complete list of schools that held walkouts.
See video, read the original story on the walkout at NBCMiami.com
At Miami Central and Turner, students were seen pouring out of the school buildings and into the streets just after 9 a.m.
Miami-Dade Police later reported a crwod of students had congregated at Southland Mall.
Miami-Dade Schools Police spokesman Sgt. Ivan Silva said there had been no incidents reported.
"Our job is to make sure the demonstrations are being run in safe and peaceful manner," Silva said.
Miami-Dade Police said they were helping with crowd control as well.
Miami-Dade School District officials didn't return calls for comment. Broward County Public Schools spokeswoman Nadine Drew said the protests in that county were organized with the help of the school staff.
"For the most part they are being organized and are being supported by the school family as an outpouring show of support," she said. "I think the reaction is similar to the national reaction. I don't think our students are any different than others."
Gerardo Mora / Getty Images
Trayvon Martin's photo is seen during a protest this week in Sanford, Fla.
Students at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, where Martin was attending when he was killed, will be making a banner for Martin that will be signed by students.
On Thursday, students at Miami's Carol City High School staged a massive walkout outside the Miami Gardens school. Police said the school's principal had approved of an on-campus demonstration but that students left school grounds.
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Martin, 17, was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 in Sanford.
Martin was visiting with his father at his father's girlfriend's home in a gated community and had gone to buy a bag of Skittles and iced tea at a nearby convenience store and was walking back when the shooting happened.
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Though Martin was unarmed, Zimmerman told police the shooting was self-defense, and no charges have been filed in the case.
Martin's ninth-grade teacher, Noemy Pascual, remembered him as a good student. He went to George T. Baker Aviation School two years ago, and she taught him three classes of Aerospace Technology.
"He was a normal student. He was well-behaved. He passed all the classes," she said.
She said he left the school because he went to live with his father in Miami Gardens.
"Really, we always feel bad because to lose a young life. It's terrible," she said. "I told my husband 'Oh, he was my student."
Thursday night, the Rev. Al Sharpton held a rally in Sanford with Martin's parents to push for Zimmerman's arrest. Hours before the rally, Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee Jr. announced he was temporarily stepping down until the completion of the Martin shooting investigation.
"We did not come here for a temporary leave of absence. We came for permanent justice," Sharpton said. "From top to bottom, we don’t need temporary relief. We need permanent change."
About a half-hour into the rally, which was attended by around 8,000 people, word came that Gov. Rick Scott had appointed a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into Martin's death.
The governor said he appointed Angela Corey, a prosecutor for the Jacksonville area, to lead the investigation after Norman Wolfinger, the state attorney for Seminole and Brevard counties, recused himself.
Scott also appointed a task force led by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll to hold hearings about the shooting and make recommendations for changing state laws and procedures.
The U.S. Justice Department and FBI are also investigating the shooting. Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, met with representatives from both departments before Thursday night's rally to discuss the case.
Sharpton told those gathered at the rally that "Zimmerman should have been arrested that night" and that police had probable cause.
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