Connecticut students headed to Washington D.C. for Saturday’s March for Our Lives say they are inspired by the Florida students calling for gun reform since 17 people were killed in a school shooting last month.

"We just wanted to make sure that as many kids as possible would be able to come and represent Guilford," Brendan O’Callahan, a Guilford High School senior, said.

At 3 a.m. on Saturday, O’Callahan and Tyler Felson will board a bus for the D.C. march with 49 other students from Guilford and nearby shoreline towns.

"We want to send a strong message to our lawmakers that the movement for stronger gun control extends beyond South Florida," Felson said.

Felson went to summer camp with Cameron Kasky, one of the Parkland students leading the Never Again movement.

"Before this happened I’ve had conversations with my friends where I’m just like the thought’s crossed your mind before it could happen to you right and everyone has had that thought at some point," Felson told NBC Connecticut. "That’s the sad reality about the world we live in today, you don’t feel safe in school."

These high school seniors said after marching, they want to continue fighting for changes like expanded background checks.

"The NRA isn’t going to let up," Felson said. "We can’t let up either."

The shoreline community of Guilford is still shaken by the Jan. 31 shooting death of 15-year-old Ethan Song that remains under investigation.

"Seeing how someone who had so much life left to live, he was an incredible human being, seeing how one instant that can be gone it really shocks you," Guilford High School senior James Hyman said.

Hyman and Olivia Clarke plan to make their voices heard at the March for Our Lives in their hometown.

"We just need to take steps forward to improve gun regulations," Clarke said.

Local march organizer Kathryn Westgard said she is in awe of the students taking a stand against gun violence.

"They give us courage, they give us purity," she said. "They know when something’s just not right and they’re not afraid to say it."

Senator Chris Murphy is planning to speak at the March for Our Lives in Guilford that begins at 12:30 on the town green. Family members of Ethan Song are also expected to attend, organizers said. They are expecting a crowd of more than 2,000 people from the town and nearby communities.

Some parents who lost children at the Sandy Hook school shooting are joining the students marching in D.C.

An organization in Southington is trying to make it easier for students to afford to go to school proms.

Kristen’s Kloset, a program under Southington Youth Services, has about 500 new and gently used prom gowns for students. The program is open to any high school student who wants to attend prom.

Students with a valid school ID can attend the event happening on Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a fitting room available. 

No appointment is required and a suggested $25 donation for the gown is appreciated.

A seamstress is donating her time to fit the girls and will make follow-up appointments if needed.

Kristen’s Kloset is also helping with purchasing tuxedo rentals. Students can contact  Southington Youth Services at 860-276-6281 for more information.

The most convenient parking for the weekend event is located in the back of Southington High School near the Varsity Baseball Field. The event is held inside the freshman cafeteria.

Months after a monster winter storm and water main break triggered a lost luggage fiasco at John F. Kennedy International Airport, one college student who had been moving abroad and says she lost $7,000 in clothes is still looking for everything but a bikini top and a single boot. 

Rutgers junior Aly Abrams was moving to Spain for a five-month study abroad program when her bag was lost with thousands of others amid the January blizzard debacle. 

The 21-year-old Abrams says that when she finally got it back months later, it was busted open and crudely taped together -- and the only items inside were the lone boot and bikini top. 

"It's like a slap in the face," Abrams said, adding she had packed up basically her entire closet for the near half-year excursion. "All my clothes. All my jeans. All my skirts. All my dresses." 

For more than two months, Abrams has been filing claims with Air Europa for answers. She says she finally got an email reading, "We would like to apologize for the inconvenience that this incident may have caused." 

The airline offered her $180.32 for the thousands of dollars worth of items she said she lost. 

"I thought it was a joke," Abrams said. "After all this, so much time wasted. And so much money was wasted." 

The Air Europa letter also says if Abrams accepts the $180.32. She doesn't plan to sign that letter. And she says she's not giving up. 

"You would think an airline would want to have your safety and be responsible for something," she said. 

Air Europa has yet to respond to News 4's requests for comment. 

The infamous weekend of dysfunction at JFK started when the Jan. 4 snowstorm and subsequent cold snap spiraled into frozen equipment, planes waited hours for backed-up arrival gates, and a burst water pipe flooded one terminal, causing days of delays. Chopper 4 exclusively spotted piles of suitcases buried amid snow banks outside at JFK as desperate travelers wrote and called the station in an attempt to find their missing bags. 

A Port Authority investigation is ongoing, but several improvement measures were immediately implemented at JFK, including a new 24/7 emergency operations center in advance of storms, a 90-minute tarmac limit and a new inspection of pipes and facilities.

Student Chris Grady was in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the day a gunman killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. On Saturday, less than two months later, Grady and his classmates will rally in Washington, D.C., to demand change to the nation's gun laws.

The March 24 rally in Washington, D.C., called March for Our Lives, has more than 800 sister marches around the world in a movement that is asking that public safety be considered an issue that transcends politics.

"People are trying to spin what we’re doing, saying we’re out to take away their Second Amendment rights," said Grady, 19. "Our main goal is to save kids' lives, people's lives. This is a public safety issue that takes place in concerts, churches, airports, not just schools."

As they march and organize, the students are up against the National Rifle Association, a powerful, well-funded organization that has many decades of experience repelling proposed changes to gun laws.

But this time may be different, experts say, because of the mobilized outrage and mounting pressure on the NRA.

"It is only in moments like this when the country is roused that NRA activism can be overwhelmed, but it doesn't happen often," said Dr. Robert Spitzer, a professor at SUNY Cortland who has written extensively about gun policy.

The NRA was founded in 1871 by former Union soldiers with the intention of promoting accurate marksmanship. In 1934, the group founded a legislative division due to growing debates over gun laws. But it wasn't until 1975 that the NRA founded its lobby division, the Institute for Legislative Action, to be a direct influence on policy.

In 2016, the NRA's political arm took in $366 million, according to a the group's Internal Revenue Service filing obtained by Mother Jones. It was a fundraising record for the group.

The NRA is America's most powerful gun lobby, funding politicians who will vote to maintain loose gun measures on its behalf. And beyond financial power, the NRA has strengthened its base by ingraining the notion that guns represent American values.

The NRA says it supports the Constitution and gun rights for all Americans. But it only truly represents its base members -- nearly 5 million, according to the NRA’s website, on top of another 10 million who identify with the the group, Spitzer said.  

Spitzer said the NRA maintains power through a small, highly motivated minority that wins over a "larger, but relatively apathetic majority."

"There is a general sense among some gun owners that the NRA champions their values -- not just gun ownership, but how they view the world," he said. 

The organization has been thrown in a harsh spotlight after the the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Nikolas Cruz was charged with killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, using a semiautomatic rifle. The NRA was silent for a week after the shooting before going on the offensive; NRA leader Wayne LaPierre called for President Donald Trump to arm teachers and "harden our schools" as a defense against shootings.

The group has already increased its influence in schools in recent years-- the NRA has given more than $7 million to about 500 schools across the U.S. from 2010 to 2016, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Most of the money was given through competitive grants used to promote shooting sports, including the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, rifle teams, hunting safety courses and agriculture clubs.

Although it’s a small portion of the $61 million the NRA has given to local groups in the same time frame, The Associated Press analysis revealed the $7.3 million was a rapid increase from previous years, nearly four-fold from 2010 to 2014. Some opponents call it a thinly veiled attempt to recruit the next generation of NRA members.

But the attempt may not inspire a generation of students who have been entrenched in an era of deadly gun use. Each year from 2000 to 2013 there was an increase in shootings, and casualties per shooting, according to a study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Of the 160 situations examined by the FBI in that span, there were only four instances in which an armed civilian ended the shooting. Twenty-one of them ended after an unarmed civilian restrained the shooter -- eleven of them were principals, teachers, other school staff and students.

"[Arming teachers] won’t have a significant effect on public safety," Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor, told NBC's "Nightly News." "Measures like this could actually make schools less safe.”

After the Parkland shooting, LaPierre said the NRA is happy to work with schools to make them safer. But the sentiment echoes his assertion after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, when he said, "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun."

The NRA did not return NBC’s request for comment. 

Immediately after the shooting in Parkland, Trump took a hard line on guns and showed signs of supporting stricter gun measures. He attacked members of Congress who he said were “afraid of the NRA.” But shortly after that, the president waffled on his stance, withdrawing support for a raised minimum gun age and instead backing LaPierre’s call for armed teachers.

Aashish Kumar, the co-director at the Center for Civic Engagement at Hofstra University, said the NRA has tapped into a cultural underpinning to the gun rights movement, successfully exploiting and heightening people’s sense of urgency to own weapons. He said the increase in political engagement by young Americans can be attributed, in part, to the Trump administration.

"We're seeing students take on these leadership roles, which shows us very clearly that they’re not waiting for others to do the things they feel need to be done," Kumar said. "Parkland was a rupture in 'Politics as usual.'"

After the shooting in Parkland, public support for gun control reached its highest point in 25 years, with two-thirds of Americans wanting stricter measures, according to a Gallup Poll released in mid March. But even with a changing public opinion, the NRA has political clout to keep its agenda afloat -- during the 2016 election cycle, the group spent an unprecedented $54.4 million on key Republican candidates, including more than $30 million on Trump.

And stricter gun legislation faces an uphill battle in most states, according to a review by The Associated Press. The review deemed in unlikely for Republican lawmakers to defy the NRA to pass new regulations -- and Republicans have sponsored over 80 percent of bills to expand gun rights. The GOP controls most statehouses nationwide.

The review brings reality to the student-led gun control movement. Survivors of the Parkland shooting have been calling out the NRA on social media, on television, and pressuring politicians like Sen. Marco Rubio who have accepted donations from the gun group.

LaPierre said the Parkland students "exploit tragedy for political gain."

Grady said the NRA's attempts to discredit Parkland students is how they know they're getting to the gun group. 

"It’s good to be a nuisance," he said. "We’re pissing them off."

Several companies have cut ties with the NRA and some have raised the age limit to purchase a rifle to 21. Spitzer noted that it isn't the first time companies have distanced themselves from the gun group, but called the current round of severed ties "a bigger step" by damaging the NRA's image with the potential for "long-term business consequences."

While the movement was started by students, the expectation of students to change the status quo of gun policy is unrealistic without the support of the larger public against groups like the NRA, Kumar said.

"Students can only initiate that voice, show that outrage," he said. "They have been direct, honest, vulnerable -- a reminder of what it is really about."

Grady said the NRA is fully within its right to keep promoting its agenda, but doesn't believe it'll withstand the growing opposition.

"It’s their right to do what they want to do, but they’re just choosing the wrong side of history if they’re gonna continue to fight against these bills we want to see passed," he said. "It’s just a matter of choosing the right side of history."

The mother of a toddler found walking alone in Ansonia has been arrested, police said. 

A neighbor reported a small child walking alone on 6th Street and Hubbell Avenue around 10:40 a.m. on Friday. The 2-year-old entered a home on Hubbell Avenue, according to police. 

The child's mother, Julie Sherman, was contacted and asked to meet with police at the station after the toddler was located. 

At the station, the 36-year-old admitted to leaving her child at home alone while she went grocery shopping, according to Ansonia police. 

Sherman faces a risk of injury charge and her bond was set at $5,000. 

The Department of Children and Families assisted in the investigation. 

West Hartford police have arrested a massage therapist who is accused of inappropriately touching a client in January.

The woman said she went to A Matter of Touch, at 920 Farmington Ave. in West Hartford, on Jan. 23 for a massage and the masseur, 41-year-old Chiwanda Johnson, of East Hartford, touched her inappropriately, according to police.

Police said they developed probable cause and charged Johnson with one count of fourth-degree sexual assault.

He turned himself in to police at noon Friday and was released on a $50,000 surety bond. Johnson is due in court on April 5.

“I have known Chiwanda for a while and have been involved in this matter since the beginning of the investigation. My client denies any wrongdoing whatsoever and we plan to defend this case until the end,” Salvatore Bonanno, Johnson’s attorney, said.

NBC Connecticut went to A Matter of Touch for comment and the employee did not comment and closed the door.

The state Department of Public Health released a statement: 

“The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) cannot comment on any case under investigation. The Department opens an investigation on any licensed practitioner it learns may have engaged in illegal or inappropriate behavior in the practice of his/her profession, and Mr. Johnson is currently under investigation,” a statement from Christopher Stan, of the Connecticut Department of Public Health Office of Communications, says.

The Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville has been identified as a new target for anti-NRA activists as the banquet venue was poised to host a Friends of the National Rifle Association fundraiser.

The Newtown Action Alliance, a group formed following the shooting at Sandy Hook that left 26 people dead, called on future patrons of the Aqua Turf Club to end their relationship with the facility.

"I think it’s time for corporations to be held responsible for supporting the National Rifle Association who stands in staunch opposition to any common sense gun reform in our country," said Heather Whaley, who is also associated with Women’s March Connecticut.

The Newtown Action Alliance is calling for high schools who may have participated in the nationwide walk out to rethink their plans if they have a major event like a prom planned for the Aqua Turf.

"It’s got to be a rude awakening that the place that’s holding their prom is also participating in a fundraiser for the National Rifle Association," Whaley said. "I hope that the Aqua Turf ends their relationship with the NRA just like many corporations have decided to boycott the NRA and I would be happy to, in the future, attend any event at the Aqua Turf."

NBC Connecticut reached the Aqua Turf’s longtime general manager, Tim Needham, by phone several hours before the fundraiser.

Needham said it’s not fair to attack the Aqua Turf for hosting the event.

"To be put in a category that these people are putting us in is totally unfair," Needham said. "There’s 1,000 people coming here this evening. I have 50 staff working today and I have 150 staff working tonight. What am I supposed to say to these people?"

Needham also pointed to contributions the owners of the Aqua Turf made to Sandy Hook-related causes several years ago. The Calvanese Foundation, founded by the owners of the club, hosted a gala that provided more than $60,000 in donations to the Newtown Sandy Hook Private Purpose Fund.

He said the Aqua Turf does not discriminate against clients for any reason and said, for the sake of his employees, he can’t pick and choose which events are held based on political preference.

"Where does it stop?" Needham asked.

Scott Wilson with the Connecticut Citizens Defense League said gun rights groups have the same right to gather as any group.

"People have the right to assembly and do have dinner and share their common interests with each other and raise funds for the projects and the causes that they believe in," Wilson said. 

Police chiefs in Connecticut are hoping the new federal spending bill signed by the president on Friday will help get departments resources to battle the opioid epidemic. 

"It’s off the charts right now. We went from three or four years ago maybe 10-under 10 opioid deaths a year to last year’s 35. That’s unheard of," Norwich Police Chief Patrick Daley said.

Daley said he has two Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants that help put additional patrolmen on the street, but Norwich, Ledyard, Groton and New London are looking to add more officers to their forces to help interdict, investigate and get people addicted to opioids help.

The four departments met with Rep. Joe Courtney on Friday afternoon.

"Eastern Connecticut has really stepped up loud and clear that they want to work together with the other two components in terms of prevention and treatment, but they frankly need more boots on the ground," Courtney said.

Courtney expects the Omnibus Spending Bill will not only add more officers to the force but also get funding for equipment, whether it be Narcan or ways to safely handle evidence like fentanyl.

"The stuff that you’re looking at is killing people and we’re having our officers handle it," Town of Groton Chief L.J. Fusaro told the congressman.

New London Police Chief Peter Reichard agreed officer safety is called into question. Drugs, like fentanyl, are more potent, so his officers have Narcan assigned to their cars in case something were to happen to them or their K9 officers.

Courtney said the state should see more money because Connecticut has seen an increase in opioid deaths.

Ben Iliff has been battling an addiction to opioids, specifically heroin, for about 10 years.

"They’ll give you a bag with some pure white powder in it and you’ll find out one way or another that it wasn’t dope. You’re getting pure fentanyl," the Salem, Connecticut, resident said. 

Iliff said he’s seen the opioid crisis getting worse over the last decade. 

"We can’t arrest our way out of it. We’ve all heard that," Iliff's mom, Ceci, said.

Iliff said there can always be more officers on the ground, but many need to learn the way to better understand and interact with addicts.

Responding to criticism that outrage over the deaths of young people erupts only when the victims are white or well-to-do, the organizers of Saturday’s "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., had an answer.

Their lineup included speakers not just from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where the slaughter of 17 students inspired the marches, but also 19-year-old Trevon Bosley of Chicago, there for his slain brother and young people across the country. And Edna Chavez, 17, of South Los Angeles, whose brother was also killed, and 11-year-old Naomi Wadler from Alexandria, Virginia, standing for African-American girls and women who are disproportionately affected by violence.

“I’m here to speak on behalf of Chicago’s youth who are surrounded and affected by gun violence every day,” Bosley said. “I’m here to speak for those youth who fear they may be shot while going to the gas station, the movies, the bus stop, to church or even to and from school. I’m here to speak for those Chicago youth who feel their voices have been silenced for far too long.”

Most important, Bosley said, he was speaking for his brother, Terrell Bosley, shot and killed outside of a church in April 2006.

He said that it was time to stop judging communities differently based on what they look like, and he accused President Donald Trump of simply talking about Chicago’s violence rather than sending the funds to combat it.

“It’s time for the nation to realize gun violence is more than just a Chicago problem or Parkland problem but an America problem,” he said.

Chavez, a senior at Manuel Arts High School and a youth leader in an community coalition, said she had learned to duck from bullets before she learned how to read. But if she was a survivor, her brother, Ricardo, was not. He died.

“It was a day like any other, sunset going down in South Central,” she said. “You hear pops thinking they’re fireworks. They were not pops. You see the melanin on your brother’s skin turn grey. Ricardo was his name. Can you all say it with me?”

And the group obliged, chanting his name.

Wadler said she and a classmate had organized a walkout at her elementary school as part of the national protests on March 14. They added a minute to the 17 minutes recognized elsewhere to honor Courtlin Arrington, a teenager who was shot to death at her school in Birmingham, Alabama, after the Parkland shootings.

“I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper,” Wadler said. “These stores don’t lead on the evening news.”

Jaclyn Corin, one of the student organizers, said that the students of Parkland needed an alliance with other communities to spread their message. She acknowledged that her community had gotten the spotlight denied other cities.

“We openly recognize that we are privileged individuals and would not have received as much attention if it weren’t for the affluence of our city,” she said. “Because of that however we share the stage today and forever with those who have always stared down the barrel of gun.”

Corin led the speaker who came after her onto the stage: Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King. King said that her grandfather had a dream that his four children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of the character.

“I have a dream that enough is enough,” she said. “And that this should be a gun-free world. Period.”

Several students and parents affected by the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took part in the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Matthew Soto took the stage to speak to the tens of thousands of who gathered for the march. His sister, Victoria Soto, was a teacher at Sandy Hook and was killed along with 20 children and five other educators inside the school.

"At the age of 15, I sat in my high school Spanish class while my sister, Victoria Soto, was being slaughtered in her classroom in Newtown, Connecticut," Soto told the crowd.

Soto was joined on stage by Newtown High School students Tommy Murray and Jackson Mittleman who then presented the students of Stoneman Douglas High with a signed banner that read "Newtown High School stands with Stoneman Douglas."

"We have worked incredibly hard for the last five years to protect other communities," Mittleman said. "But apparently Sandy Hook was not enough for America to make the changes, but after Parkland, we feel hope."

Nelba Marquez-Greene, who lost her 6-year-old daughter, Ana Grace, in the Sandy Hook shooting, marched in the streets of Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

"The students who spoke today were all impacted by gun violence and compelling speakers," Marquez-Greene tweeted. "This should not be their burden. I am proud of them and I am heartbroken this is their reality."

Marquez-Greene even ran into a woman in the crowd who held a sign depicting her daughter, Ana Grace, and read "Love Wins."

"What are the odds I would find this woman in a crowd of thousands?" she tweeted.

Naomi Wadler, who helped lead a walkout at her elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia, tells the crowd at March for Our Lives that kids aren't too young to have valid opinions about gun violence.

When Matthew Soto was 15 years old, he sat in his high school Spanish class while his older sister, Victoria Soto, was slaughtered in her first-grade classroom in Sandy Hook Elementary School, Soto told the March of Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Victoria Soto was a teacher at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, when she was planning to make gingerbread houses with her students before the holiday break.

“How many of you could remember doing that?” Soto asked. “The anticipation of having to wait all week, to have to be on your best behavior, but that was cut short. They didn't get to make gingerbread houses because gunfire rang out in the hallway. Too many times has gunfire been ringing out in the hallways of schools across this country.”

Soto was among the speakers from Newtown to take the stage at the rally organized by students from Parkland, Florida, who experienced the most recent school massacre. On Valentine’s Day, 17 students were shot to death by another gunman.

The Sandy Hook gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza of Newtown, killed first his mother and then 20 first-graders and six adults at the elementary school before killing himself with an AR-15 rifle. Soto saved some of the children in her class, hiding them while she tried to divert Lanza.

More than 400 students, teachers and parents from Newtown marched on Saturday in Washington, D.C., Soto said, and they presented a banner to the Parkland community.

“We know your pain,” he said. “We know what you are going through and we are inspired by your fight for change. We need to use our voices because we cannot change the past, we can only fight to change and build a better future.”

Tommy Murray was a sixth-grader in Newtown, on lock-down for hours, when Lanza attacked. Among the victims was Murray’s former principal, Dawn Hochsprung.

“Since then, I have attended vigils,” said Murray, now a junior at Newtown High School. “I have protested in front of the gun lobby in our town. I have sent letters to Congress. I traveled to DC to meet with Congress to beg them to do something to stop gun violence. But they did nothing.”

A third Newtown student, Jackson Mittleman, told the Parkland survivors that they would stand by them as they healed, long after the media trucks had left.

“We are forever connected by a tragedy that could have been prevented if our lawmakers had the courage to enact smart gun legislations,” Mittleman said.

“Mr. Trump, Congress, the Senate and all elected leaders of America: You have failed us and we have had enough of your NRA agenda,” he said. “I am calling out those who have taken money from the NRA. You better take that check to the bank and put it in your retirement because we are going to vote you out.”

Two robberies within the span of five hours in Columbia had state police busy on Saturday morning. 

The first incident happened at 1:16 a.m. on Saturday at the 7-11 gas station and convenience store on Route 66. State police from Troop-K Colchester and Detectives from the Eastern District Major Crime responded to the scene after an employee reported that a male suspect stole money from the cash register and threatened them with a small screw driver.

The suspect fled the store and then got into a waiting vehicle in the parking lot, which was last seen traveling west on Route 66. 

Then, just five hours later, at 6:15 a.m., state police responded to a report of a robbery at the Dunkin Donuts on Route 6 in Columbia after an employee said that a male suspect took money from the cash register and fled on foot.

A state police trooper happened to be in the parking lot of the Dunkin Donuts at the time of the robbery and saw the suspect run past him with an employee in chase.  The trooper got out of his cruiser and chased the supsect, ultimately apprehending and arresting him. 

The suspect, Wayne Squier, 35, of Columbia, is facing several charges, including robbery, larceny, interfering with an officer, breach of peace and possessing drug paraphernalia.  He is being held on $100,000 bond and will appear in Rockville Superior Court on Monday. 

The previous robbery at the 7-11 is still under investigation and no suspects have been arrested. 

The former program coordinator for the North Haven Senior Center has been charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the center’s bank account.

North Haven police arrested Susan Tienken-Jung, 53, on Friday and charged her with 56 counts of first-degree larceny and forgery.  They allege that between 2012 and 2017, Tienken-Jung stole upwards of $23,700 in funds belonging to members of the Senior Center.

The arrest concluded an extensive criminal investigation that was initiated during the summer months of 2017 after irregularities were noted in the center's privately owned bank account. As the Program Coordinator at the senior center, police said Tienken-Jung would assist a group of seniors in reconciling statements and balances relating to this bank account, but she was not authorized to write checks. 

Police said Tienken-Jung forged the names of various Senior Center Finance Committee members and then cashed the checks.

Tienken-Jung posted a $25,000 court bond but is scheduled to be arraigned in Meriden Superior Court on April 12, 2018.

In a historic groundswell of youth activism, hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their supporters rallied across the U.S. against gun violence Saturday, vowing to transform fear and grief into a "vote-them-out" movement and tougher laws against weapons and ammo.

They took to the streets of the nation's capital and such cities as Boston, New York, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, in the kind of numbers seen during the Vietnam era, sweeping up activists long frustrated by stalemate in the gun debate and bringing in lots of new, young voices.

Here are some of the top moments from the March for Our Lives demonstrations:

EMMA GONZALEZ'S MOMENT OF SILENCE
Majory Stoneman Douglas student Emma Gonzalez led a moment of silence to honor the 17 people killed at her high school during her speech in Washington, D.C. 

PAUL McCARTNEY JOINS THE MARCH IN NYC
When asked why he was in the New York City rally, former Beatle Paul McCartney said one of his best friends was killed by gun violence near the scene of the march. John Lennon was killed outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980.

MLK'S GRANDDAUGHTER SHARES HER DREAM IN DC
Nine-year-old Yolanda Renee King told the crowd that she had a dream "that enough is enough," echoing the words of her grandfather, Martin Luther King, Jr. She said "this should be a gun-free world, period."

11-YEAR-OLD WALKOUT ORGANIZER: DON'T UNDERESTIMATE KIDS
Naomi Wadler helped lead her elementary school walkout on March 14 in Alexandria, Virginia. She spoke in Washington, D.C., about how kids "know what is right and wrong."

THE WORLD MARCHES WITH THE U.S.
France, Italy, Sweden, England and Canada all had marches in solidarity with the March for Our Lives demonstrations in the U.S.

Some of the most powerful voices at Saturday's March for Our Lives came from the youngest speakers.

Naomi Wadler, of Alexandria, Virginia, is only 11, but all eyes were on her when she took the stage in support of the African-American women and girls who have been victims of gun violence.

"I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don't lead on the evening news," Wadler said. 

Wadler helped organize a walkout at her elementary school on March 14, where students walked out for 18 minutes: a minute for each victim of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, and an extra minute for 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington, an African-American student who was a victim of school gun violence in Alabama earlier this month.

"It is my privilege to be here today," Wadler said. "I am indeed full of privilege. My voice has been heard. I am here to acknowledge their stories, to say they matter, to say their names, because I can, and I was asked to be. For far too long these names, these black girls and women, have been just numbers. I'm here to say never again for those girls, too."

Wadler also spoke out against critics who say she is too young to be involved in the fight against gun violence.

"People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own," she said. "People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It's not true. My friends and I might still be 11, and we might still be in elementary school, but we know. We know life isn't equal for everyone and we know what is right and wrong."

At many of the March for Our Lives events across the United States on Saturday, speakers reminded the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance that there was an important way they could push for gun reform: register to vote and go to the polls.

According to many of the student speakers at the Washington rally, voting is the only way to pressure politicians to propose legislation that would meet the movement's demands, NBC News reported.

HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that registers young voters at concerts, partnered with the students behind March for Our Lives and sent close to 1,000 volunteers to register marchers at Saturday’s crowd in Washington, which numbered 800,000 people, according to organizers.

HeadCount spokesman Aaron Ghitelman said volunteers, who were dressed in neon yellow or neon green shirts, were coming back with 10 to 20 filled-out voter forms each. And the young people who filled out those forms are from all over the country.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrated at Saturday's "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., with a message for politicians who fail to tighten the nation's gun laws: "Vote them out."

"Stand for us, or beware, the voters are coming," Cameron Kasky, a now prominent figure in the student-led movement from Parkland, Florida, shouted from the stage in front of the Capitol.

Even the youngest speakers were putting lawmakers on notice. Eleven-year-old Naomi Wadler of Alexandria, Virginia, said, "We stand in the shadow of the Capitol, and we know we have seven short years until we too have the right to vote."

Kasky and his classmates organized the national rally on Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue after a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 students and staff members with an assault rifle on Valentine’s Day. 

They predicted that the rally, which organizers told NBC News had drawn 800,000 people, would be a defining moment in the long-simmering national debate over gun control legislation. At that size, it would match last year's Women's March, make it one of the largest Washington protests since the Vietnam era and bolster claims that the nation is ready to enact sweeping changes to its gun control laws.

And the young activists spurred a surge of rallies across the country, with more than 800 sister marches planned for every state in the country and around the world. Protesters took to the streets in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and elsewhere, while marchers turned out in solidarity in London, Rome and Paris.

The demonstrators in Washington, bearing signs reading "We Are the Change," ''No More Silence" and "Keep NRA Money Out of Politics," stretched from the stage near the Capitol back toward the White House on a route that also took in the Trump International Hotel. President Donald Trump was in Florida at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.

One of the moving moments came Emma Gonzalez, an outspoken Stoneman Douglas student who named all 17 victims of the shooting, but then used her time in the international spotlight to stand silent until an alarm beeped.

"Since the time that I came out here it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds," she said then. "The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest.

"Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job," she said.

The organizers of the rally are calling for the sale of assault rifles and large-capacity magazines to be banned and loopholes in background checks closed for all purchases at gun shows and online.

Other Stoneman Douglas students echoed Kasky's challenge to politicians. David Hogg, another of the most recognizable faces from the high school, told NRA-supported lawmakers to "get your resumes ready."

Jaclyn Corin, who helped create the "March for Our Lives" campaign and was featured on the latest Time magazine cover, took on the president's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"We cannot keep America great if we cannot keep America safe," she said.

Her schoolmate, Alex Wind, questioned the proposal from Trump and the NRA to arm teachers with guns. Wind wondered if the movie theater tickets scanner and the Disney World Mickey Mouse actor would be next.

"Vote them out" chants rang through the audience.

The young protesters say their age will set their initiative apart from previous attempts to enact stronger gun-control legislation. Stoneman Douglas survivor Sam Fuentas said the students were scolded when they spoke up by critics who charged they were not old enough.

"It is as if we need permission to ask our friends not to die. Lawmakers and politicians will scream guns are not the issue but can't look me in the eye," she said moments before throwing up onstage.

Fuentes, who was shot in the thigh, and hit in the leg and face by shrapnel, gathered herself before shouting: "I just threw up on international television and it feels great."

The Stoneman Douglas speakers shared their push for gun control with others long affected by gun violence. When Corin finished speaking, she presented a special young guest: the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.

"My grandfather had a dream. I have a dream that enough is enough," Yolanda Renee King, 9, said. "And that this should be a gun-free world. Period."

She then led the crowd in a chant: "Spread the word, have you heard, all across the nation, we are going to be a great generation."

Teenagers from cities that have struggled with gun violence told of the pain it had brought their families, among them Trevon Bosley, a 19-year-old from Chicago, who offered another impassioned chant: "Everyday shootings are everyday problems." Bosley's brother, Terrell, was shot to death outside of a church.

Seventeen-year-old Edna Chavez, whose brother was killed in South Los Angeles, said she learned to duck bullets before she learned to read, while 11-year-old Christopher Underwood, lost his brother in Brooklyn, New York.

"I would like to not worry about dying, and focus on math and science and playing basketball with my friends," he said.

Matthew Sotto's sister, Victoria, was a first-grade teacher who was gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. He and other Connecticut residents offered their support to the Parkland students, and criticized politicians who have failed the country with their inaction.

"Newtown wants change," Soto, 19, said. "Parkland wants change. The world wants change. Give it to us now."

Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung was killed in the 2012 shooting. Her daughter, Erica Lafferty, addressed a crowd in Hartford, Connecticut, Saturday.

Lafferty said the Parkland teenagers are "young people who have followed their voices and are not afraid to use them."

Gun violence was fresh for some in the crowd. Ayanne Johnson of Great Mills High School in Maryland held a sign declaring, "I March for Jaelynn," honoring Jaelynn Willey, who died Thursday, two days after being shot by a classmate at the school.

Shilpa Deshpande, attending the D.C. rally with her husband and 7-year-old son, called for a prohibition on military-style weapons.

"We feel like this is an easy problem to fix -- ban assault-style weapons," she told NBC. "My son told me how terrified he and his friends feel whenever they have a lockdown drill in school -- now they have it once every two weeks. We owe a safer world to our children."

Musicians Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Andra Day and Common performed power-ballads for the crowd in between speeches. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt sang their new song "Found Tonight," a mashup of two of their Broadway songs in benefit of the "March for Our Lives" campaign. And Jennifer Hudson led an impromptu call-and-response sing-a-long for change.

Stoneman Douglas survivors also stayed in Florida, marching with thousands there. Students and alumni spoke to protesters, with Sam Mayor, who was shot in the knee in the massacre, describing her harrowing experience. "Change is overdue," she said.

Thousands swarmed Los Angeles, where signs read: "88 days until graduation, which one will be my last?" and "No more thoughts, no more prayers, time for action."

Katie Taylor, 17, attended the New York City march with three schoolmates from Somers High School in suburban Westchester County.

"We've sat through too many lock-down drills," Taylor said. "We've watched too many school shootings. We're done that. We're ready to change."

Tara Nash, a 37-year-old former classroom teacher who now works for New York City's Committee on Special Education, accused the NRA of bullying people. If anyone can force changes to gun laws it will be the students, she said.

"Their courage is unbelievable," she said. "It's really inspiring."

Former Beatle Paul McCartney marched in New York City as well, just steps away from where bandmate John Lennon was gunned down in 1980 outside the Dakota Apartments on Central Park West. Survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre and the Las Vegas shooting, which left 58 people dead at an outdoor concert, spoke too.

In Chicago, Sen. Dick Durbin commended the young people for speaking out. "They are teaching us," he said. "I am not giving them a message. They are giving us a message."

Hundreds showed up to marches in both Forth Worth and Dallas, where protesters nearly filled City Hall Plaza in downtown Dallas and wrapped through the streets. 

Saturday's event is the second major demonstration of the month. Students across the country walked out of their schools on March 14, a month to the day after the Fla. massacre, sometimes defying principals and superintendents reluctant to sanction a political demonstration.

The teenagers from Parkland have tapped into a powerful current of pro-gun control sentiment that has been building for years, and have partnered with well-funded liberal groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control advocacy group founded by former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

They are savvy on social media and their demonstrations come amidst upheaval in American society, from the Women’s March to the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements.

"They’ve been very smart at taking some of the opposition's talking points and flipping them in ways that circulate pretty widely in the media and keep their message at the center," said Sasha Costanza-Chock, an associate professor of civic media in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The White House applauded the young activists for "exercising their First Amendment rights today," but the president himself remained silent on Twitter, his favorite outlet. In a statement to NBC News, deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters pointed to the Justice Department's decision on Friday to ban bump stocks to say that Trump had followed through on his promise to "ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns."

Polls indicate that public opinion nationwide may be shifting on an issue that has simmered for generations, and through dozens of mass shootings. A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 69 percent of Americans think gun laws in the United States should be tightened. That's up from 61 percent who said the same in October of 2016 and 55 percent when the AP first asked the question in October of 2013. Overall, 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor stricter gun control laws.

But even with claims of historic social momentum on the issue of gun control, the AP poll also found that nearly half of Americans do not expect elected officials to take action. Among the questions facing march organizers and participants will be how to translate this one-day event, regardless of turnout, into meaningful legislative change.

One way is by channeling the current energy into mid-term congressional elections this fall. Students in Florida have focused on youth voter registration and there was a registration booth at the Saturday rally.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Several dozen students, along with adult chaperones, left early Saturday morning to join the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C.

“We are here and we need things to change because our lives matter too,” Sydni Naylor said.

Naylor is proud to be part of a group from the Wilson-Gray YMCA in Hartford that is participating in the March in the nation's capital.

“I’m excited because I want to get the word out there that there is an issue that needs to be solved,” Tristan Williams, of Hartford, said.

They will link up with an estimated half-million people rallying to bring about tougher gun laws following the massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

“It’s like, am I next? Basically, it’s a scary feeling to have,” Tyler Williams of Hartford, said.

For the group from the YMCA, they say this is not just a moment, but a movement.

Their eyes are set on laws involving gun sales, background checks, and enforcement.

“We are willing to put the effort and time into making these things change because we care about each other,” Naylor said.

“It’s very inspiring to see young folk coming together, galvanize, utilize their voices,” Anthony Barrett, Wilson-Gray YMCA executive director, said.

Gun rights supporters acknowledge the passion of the youth, but they don’t think the long-term consequences are being considered, especially when it comes to the Second Amendment.

“We in a situation right now where we have kids trying to affect and impact legislation where they don’t fully understand what it means to have rights, to be able to exercise rights,” Scott Wilson, CCDL president, said.