Group places 7,000 pairs of shoes at Capitol to represent students killed since Sandy Hook

Thousands of pairs of shoes were placed on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, roughly one for each child who has been killed in school shootings since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, according to activist group Avaaz.

The group said in a statement that they collected 7,000 pairs of shoes for the memorial to bring “the heartbreak of gun violence to Congress’ doorstep.”

Shoes were donated by celebrities, family members of gun violence victims and American citizens from across the country. 

7,000 pairs of empty shoes cover the grass outside the US Capitol. @Avaaz says it represents the number of children who died bc of gun violence. Organizers hoping to send a strong message to Congress urging #gunreform. #NotOneMore pic.twitter.com/60YLcRKPVh

— Ryan Hughes (@ABC7Hughes) March 13, 2018

The memorial comes the day before the scheduled national student walkout to protest gun violence following the Parkland, Fla. high school shooting last month that killed 17 people.

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Students will also take to the streets of Washington, D.C., during the March For Our Lives on March 24 which is being championed by survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The Parkland shooting was the deadliest school shooting since 26 were killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Avaaz is the same group that recently trolled Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) just after the shooting with a “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”-style protest demanding that he act on gun control.