Close to 1,000 people, many of them schoolmates of slain student Larry King, marched in Oxnard on Saturday to honor the eighth-grader who was shot last week in his junior high classroom.

The Hueneme High students who organized the march were overjoyed at the turnout.

"I'm so happy," said Courtney La Forest, 16, who spearheaded the 3-mile march along with Hueneme student Melissa Crutcher, 16. "We were expecting a big turnout but nothing compared to this."

The march started from a park behind E.O. Green School, the campus where the 15-year-old was shot in the head Tuesday, allegedly by another student in his class. King was declared brain dead the next day and removed from life support Thursday after his family donated his organs.

Prosecutors have charged 14-year-old Brandon McInerney with murder and a hate crime against King, who told friends he was teased because he was gay. McInerney, who is being tried as an adult, has not yet entered a plea and remains in custody in lieu of $770,000 bail.

Authorities have not released details on a motive, and prosecutors have declined to elaborate on the hate crime charge.

Crutcher said she began planning the march the day King was shot at the Oxnard junior high in the hopes of sending a message of acceptance.

The teens spread the word through fliers, word of mouth and MySpace. Crutcher hoped to influence at least one person with the event.

"I want to have at least one person be tolerant of other people and not be scared to be themselves," Crutcher said after the event concluded at Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard.

The marchers lined the sidewalk along C Street for more than a mile as they walked to the park, drawing honks from motorists on the street.

Several wore T-shirts emblazoned with the smiling boy's picture from the school yearbook. Some carried roses, held balloons aloft or wore clothing promoting acceptance of varying sexual orientations.

After arriving downtown on the brisk sunny day, the crowd formed a circle around Plaza Park. They yelled "Larry, Larry, Larry," then observed a moment of silence.

Along with students, the marchers included parents, board members of Parents of Murdered Children, and elected officials.

But most were youths, moved by what had happened to the boy their age and hoping to make the world a more tolerant place.

"I hope we can affect it," said Yvette Diaz, 15, a student at Oxnard High. "That's pretty messed up — what happened to him. It's not right."