Students killed in UNC Charlotte shooting will receive Degrees in Memoriam

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The two UNC Charlotte students killed in Tuesday's campus shooting will receive Degrees in Memoriam.

Riley Howell and Ellis "Reed" Parlier were shot and killed in a classroom just days before the end of the school year.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois said the school's faculty approved Degrees in Memoriam for both men. Dubois also said he reached out to the families of both men and told them the university would do "everything we can to lift them up over the difficult days, weeks, and months ahead."

Howell, 21, was an Environmental Studies major who transferred to UNC Charlotte in 2018 from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Wednesday afternoon that Howell "took the fight to the assailant," and likely saved the lives of many of his classmates. Howell is being praised as a hero.

Parlier, 19, started at UNC Charlotte in 2017. He intended to pursue a major in Computer Science and become a game developer.

See also: Trystan Terrell charged with murder in UNC Charlotte shooting