Four Years Later, UNC Charlotte Dedicates Memorial To Honor Lives Lost In School Shooting

CHARLOTTE — It’s been four years since a senseless tragedy rocked the UNC Charlotte community. Friday, hundreds gathered to reflect and honor two students who lost their lives in a campus shooting back on April 30, 2019.

As part of UNC Charlotte’s annual Day of Remembrance, the university dedicated a permanent campus memorial to honor Riley Howell and Reed Parlier, who died that day.  Four others, Rami Alramadhan, Sean DeHart, Emily Houpt, and Drew Pescaro were injured.

The tragedy happened inside room 236 inside the Kennedy Building as students were completing their last day of Anthropology class.

The memorial, installed on the verdant plaza leading to Kennedy’s entrance, was dedicated at 3 p.m., April 28. The ceremony included the annual wreath-laying led by the Police and Public Safety Department.

The university says the memorial is designed as a constellation garden, the structure follows the orientation of the stars above the building on April 30th.