ONLY ON WCCB: Reed Parlier’s Parents Speak Out On Second Anniversary of UNC Charlotte Campus Tragedy
Friday marks two years since the UNC Charlotte campus tragedy that claimed the lives of two students.
CHARLOTTE, NC. — It’s the first thing Brian and Julie Parlier think about when they wake up and the last thing they think about before they go to bed. Their smart, quiet, thoughtful, funny son, Reed. The 19-year-old who was studying information technology systems at UNC Charlotte.
WCCB Charlotte’s Alexandra Elich sat down with Brian and Julie Parlier at their country club. Where Reed took golf and tennis lessons as a child.
“I love to talk about our son, but it is not easy. This pain will never go away; it doesn’t get easier,” Julie Parlier says.
April 30th, 2019 was like a blur says Julie Parlier. She remembers cooking dinner and watching a shooting on the UNC Charlotte campus unfold on the news. Her husband, rushing to campus waiting in the area parents reunited with their students. Hours passed until Brian was the only one left.
“I looked at Brian, and I said, where is he? Still clueless, and that’s when the police officers came around the back of the house and that’s how I found out that he was gone.”
A gunman opened fire inside Kennedy room 236, Reed’s anthropology class. Two students were killed: Reed Parlier and Riley Howell. Four others were hurt.
Two years later, Brian and Julie tell me it’s been horrific, but they want to keep Reed’s name alive.
“This whole week leading up to is torture. We relive this every day, but this week is like tenfold.”
Brian says when it comes to gun violence, something has to change.
“I think the inaction infuriates me more than anything. There are people riding all over the country every time a police officer shoots someone, but a guy walks into a classroom and shoots people and all we get our condolences,” says Brian Parlier.
