‘He died a hero’: student Riley Howell, 21, tackled alleged University of North Carolina gunman Trystan Andrew Terrell before being killed
- Two dead, four injured in Tuesday shooting on UNC campus, with suspect arrested minutes later
- Investigators have not found motive behind attacks, which apparently did not target specific victims
One of the two students who died in a Tuesday evening shooting on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus tackled the shooter and saved other lives, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Wednesday.
The university identified the students who were killed as Ellis Parlier, 19, of Midland, and Riley Howell, 21, of Waynesville. Four other students were injured. Former student Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was taken into custody minutes after the shooting in a UNC Charlotte classroom.
Howell, an athletically built young man, “took the assailant off his feet” before campus police officers arrived, Putney told reporters at an afternoon briefing. Howell was apparently the second student to be fatally shot, he said.
Howell “did exactly what we train people to do – you’re going to run, you’re going to hide and shield, or you’re going to face the assailant,” Putney said. “He did the latter [and] his sacrifice saved lives.”
“He died a hero. He jumped on the shooter to try and stop him and was shot and killed in the process.” said a Facebook post by Kim Barnes. “He may not have stopped the shooter but he occupied him while others were able to get to safety and giving police time to get to the shooter.”