Students at STEM Highlands Ranch were invited to a public vigil at nearby Highlands Ranch High School Wednesday to mourn a classmate who was killed in a school shooting the day prior.

But once inside the gymnasium, they realized it was all a stunt orchestrated by gun control advocates, including 2020 Democrat presidential contender Sen. Michael Bennet, to preach about politics and recruit activists, The Federalist reports.

“Frustrated, crying and angry, #STEMschool shooting victims hold an impromptu vigil in the rain Wednesday after leaving a gun-control vigil they felt inappropriately politicized their trauma,” Trevor Hughes posted to Twitter with a picture of students holding their lighted cellphones in the air.

Roughly 30 minutes into the event billed as a vigil for 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, students had heard enough from politicians and gun control advocates who attempted to capitalize on their grief and filed out of the school chanting “this is not for us,” “political stunt,” and “we are people, not a statement,” USA Today reports.

“We need quiet. We need familiar faces. We need to hold our babies. We will heal and we will rise stronger and ready to say ‘enough,’” said Candace Craig, mother of three STEM students. “But right now, we are shaken. We are broken. We hurt for the families whose worlds were turned upside down with grief and loss. That’s what we want the world to hear from us.”

At the impromptu rally that followed the walkout, students chanted “mental health, mental health” and refused to speak with reporters, according to the news site.

Investigators told KMGH they believe two teen suspects, one an adult and the other a minor, broke into a gun cabinet belonging to one of their parents to steal two handguns and a rifle Tuesday morning, before spray-painting “F**k Society” and “666” on a vehicle at the home and attempting to set it on fire.

The suspects then went to STEM Highlands Ranch and opened fire, killing Castillo and injuring eight others. Castello and other students are credited with charging one of the gunmen, helping to prevent further bloodshed. Castello was reportedly three days away from graduating high school.

The suspects were eventually arrested and are expected to face numerous charges at a hearing on Friday, though the case is currently under seal by the court as the investigation continues, according to media reports.

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Michael Bennet, who recently entered the Democrat primary for the 2020 presidential race, was among the politicians at the Wednesday event, where he claimed “we live in a great country, but we need to fix these broken gun laws.”

Several folks who attended the so-called vigil, sponsored by Brady’s Team Enough and March for Our Lives, posted about the experience online.

“STEM School students walked out of a vigil tonight after @RepJasonCrow & @SenatorBennet spoke. Students said their grief was being politicized,” Kyle Clark posted to Twitter. “They later returned, took the mic, and some said they didn’t want to be sued to promote gun control. #copolotics #9NEWS”

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“They demanded that they be allowed to speak,” Kevin Beaty wrote. “An adult said to the crowd, ‘You will not speak to the media … this is not who we are.’ Then they stormed out, yelling that they’d been made into political pawns for gun control.”

“And then they went back inside and reclaimed the gym,” he wrote. “Students ran the mic, and they took turns. Some lamented how the event was a political student, some said they just wanted to remember Kendrick Castillo. This was supposed to be for them.”