Victims in UNC Charlotte shooting identified as students

May 1, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC / Updated May 1, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

By Elisha Fieldstadt

The two people killed and four others wounded when a gunman opened fire at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte are all students, the school’s chancellor said Wednesday.

Ellis Parlier, 19 and Riley Howell, 21, were the students shot dead on Tuesday, which was the last day of classes, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Dr. Philip Dubois, the chancellor of UNC Charlotte, said on WBT-AM radio that both students were from North Carolina.

Howell was an environmental studies major, Dubois said. Howell’s family said in a statement that he was “truly a one of a kind guy” who loved “Star Wars, birds, cars, snowboarding, going to the lake, Kentucky Hot Browns cooking from scratch with cast iron while listening to the Feel Good Classic Soul playlist, and his Lauren.”

“He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it. He was friends with anyone and everyone — a big, muscular guy with a huge heart,” the statement said.

Drew Pescaro, 19; Emily Houpt, 23; Sean DeHart, 20, and Rami Alramadhan, 20, were the students wounded, police said. Alramadhan is from Saudi Arabia and his father was traveling to the U.S. to be with him, Dubois said.

The student-run Niner Times newspaper tweeted that Pescaro is a sports writer at the publication.

All four were expected to survive, Dubois said, adding that three were still being treated and one had been released from the hospital.

“The only silver lining this morning is the four other students that were injured look like they’re going to be fine,” Dubois told Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on WBT-AM.

Dubois said that he planned to visit the hospital and also “wander around campus” and counseling centers set up there to comfort students.

Finals are canceled through Sunday, but commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 10 and 11, will go on as planned.

Dubois said that every student who was set to walk at graduation will walk regardless of whether they’ve completed all of their tests.

“And we hope that when we get to that day, we feel a lot better than we feel now,” Dubois said. “We will not be defined by this.”

A student-organized vigil on UNC Charlotte’s campus will be held 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the school.

Officials told NBC affiliate WCNC that the suspected shooter, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was a history major at UNCC but dropped out this semester.

Investigators don’t believe he knew the two people he killed, according to a police report.

Terrell was charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a firearm on educational property and discharging a firearm on educational property, police said.