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2 Dead And 4 Injured In Shooting At University Of North Carolina, Charlotte Campus

People gather across from the campus of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte after a shooting at the school on Tuesday.
Jason E. Miczek
/
AP
People gather across from the campus of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte after a shooting at the school on Tuesday.

Updated May 1 at 11:25 a.m. ET

Two people died and another four were wounded, three critically, in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced in a tweet that a suspect, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was in custody. Terrell, a former student at the university, now faces charges of murder and attempted murder in the attack.

On Wednesday, the school identified the victims who died as students Ellis Parlier, 19, and Riley Howell, 21, according to member station WFAE.

The station says UNCC Chancellor Philip Dubois identified the wounded as "19-year-old Drew Pescaro and 20-year-old Sean Dehart, both of Apex, 20-year-old Rami Al-Ramatan of Saudi Arabia, and 23-year-old Emily Haupt of Charlotte."

Dubois did not elaborate on the students' injuries. But he credited quick police action with preventing worse casualties. And he said a live mass casualties drill that the university held last fall had also helped.

As the crisis ended Tuesday, local police announced: "Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved. CMPD and UNCC going room by room on campus to identify any students, faculty or others who may be sheltering in place."

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said police were on the scene quickly enough to find and disarm the suspect in the same room where the shootings happened.

He said two people were found dead at the scene, and three others were hospitalized in critical condition, while the fourth person suffered less serious injuries.

The campus remained on lockdown for much of Tuesday afternoon and into the evening.

Earlier, tweets by the campus's Office of Emergency Management advised people to "Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately" as "law enforcement is individually sweeping buildings on campus."

The shots were fired near the school's Kennedy building.

Student Laura Olmos told WFAE, "I got a call saying don't come back to campus because I was going to come back to have dinner with my friends. I just went to the Target parking lot and started crying. ... Now we are one of those schools. It's so crazy."

Doctoral student Ari Seal said he was in the gym when the alert came and that lights were shut off and students were told to huddle together in the center of the gym.

Shortly after the shooting attack, Dubois released a statement saying decisions are being made on how to handle the rest of the school term. "Among those unknowns is how we will navigate the remainder of the semester, including the final examination schedule and graduation," he said. "Examinations will be canceled through Sunday while we formulate a plan for the following week."

Dubois said counseling is being provided to students who were on campus during the shooting and will be made available to the rest of the university on Wednesday.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Richard Gonzales is NPR's National Desk Correspondent based in San Francisco. Along with covering the daily news of region, Gonzales' reporting has included medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California relevant to the rest of the country.
Barbara Campbell
Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.