Police detail student’s sacrifice
21-year-old shot fatally as he took gunman to floor
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina college student tackled a gunman who opened fire in his classroom, saving others’ lives but losing his own, police said Wednesday.
Riley Howell, 21, was among the students gathered for end-of-year presentations in an anthropology class at the University of North Carolina-charlotte when a gunman with a pistol began shooting students. Howell and another student were killed; four others were wounded.
Charlotte-mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Howell “took the assailant off his feet” but was fatally wounded. He said Howell did what police train people to do in active-shooter situations.
“You’re either going to run, you’re going to hide and shield, or you’re going to take the fight to the assailant. Having no place to run and hide, he did the last. But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed,” Putney said. “Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives.”
The father of Howell’s longtime girlfriend said news that Howell tackled the shooter wasn’t surprising. Kevin Westmoreland, whose daughter Lauren dated Howell for nearly six years, said Howell was athletic and compassionate — and would have been a good firefighter or paramedic.
“If Lauren was with Riley, he would step in front of a train for her if he had to,” Westmoreland said. “I didn’t realize it might come to that for somebody else.”
In a statement, Howell’s family remembered him as a big-hearted person who was friends with everyone.
“He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it,” the statement read.
The motive wasn’t clear. Suspect Trystan Andrew Terrell had been enrolled at the school but withdrew during the current semester, Unc-charlotte spokeswoman Buffy Stephens said. Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said Terrell had not appeared on their radar as a potential threat.
“I just went into a classroom and shot the guys,” Terrell told reporters Tuesday as officers led him in handcuffs into a law enforcement building.
Terrell, 22, was charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and other charges.
Putney said the suspect didn’t appear to target any particular person but did deliberately pick the building where it happened. He said the handgun used in the shooting was purchased legally.
Terrell is under observation in police custody, and his father and attorney haven’t been allowed to speak to him, his grandfather Paul Rold said Wednesday.