Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Students Hold Candlelight Vigil For UNCC Shooting Victims

Halton Arena on UNC Charlotte’s campus was packed Wednesday evening as thousands of people attended a vigil for the two students who were killed and four others who were injured during a fatal campus shooting on Tuesday. 

About 8,000 people poured through the doors at Halton Arena to honor UNC Charlotte students Riley Howell and Ellis "Reed" Parlier, who were killed, and Drew Pescaro, Sean DeHart, Rami Al-Ramadhan and Emily Houpt, who were injured in the attack.

Police have charged a former UNCC student, Trystan Terrell, in the attack. 

Dweller Parker met people at the door with boxes of tissues for those who needed them. He says he didn’t know the students but felt compelled to come out and help.

"It’s surreal. Wow. You see it on TV and see it here now. Wow. It’s hard to imagine that this could happen," Parker said. "I don’t know what to do. Right now, I’m just helping out to get my mind off things where I don’t have to think about it."

Brian Ornelas and other members of the Hispanic College Awareness Program were giving out snacks and coffee.

"At the moment, we’re recovering, but we’re just trying to remember them," Ornelas said. "You can’t forget those lost. They are still a part of our community."

Inside the arena, musicians played music fitting the somber mood of many students grieving their classmates who were wounded or killed when the shooter fired numerous rounds in their classroom. In an emotional speech during the vigil, UNCC’s Chancellor Philip Dubois called the incident senseless.

"The loss of Riley and Reed cuts to our core as a university community," Dubois said about the two students fatally wounded in the attack. "We’re heartsick. As parents ourselves, Lisa and I grieve for this senseless loss of young life and share in the anguish of their parents, families and you, their friends."

Students organized the vigil and, although the mayor, governor and other elected officials attended, with the exception of the chancellor, only students spoke. Student body President Chandler Crean and Khristine Slade, a senior and the main coordinator of the vigil, were emotional at times when speaking about the tragedy. Both echoed Dubois in his confidence that UNCC students, known as 49ers, would support each other and be OK.

"This does not stop here," Crean said. "We have to stay strong together, uplift each other, love each other and unite as one Niner nation."

"I have strength in knowing that as a community we will persevere and we will get through this event," Slade said. "We all cope and process what happened yesterday differently, but as a collective, we are Niner nation and we are Charlotte strong."

During the program, the UNCC women’s choir sang "Rain Come Down" by Shawn Kirchner. Emily Balson explained why they selected it.

"The song was written 20 years ago right after the Columbine shooting," Balson said. "He wrote about the next day after the Columbine shooting. It was raining, and he wrote the words, 'rain come down,' 'heaven’s tears are coming down,' so this really hit home."  

Gabriel Bryant sang the solo parts.

"Singing those words to our classmates, I’m still kind of shaky from it at a time when we need healing and support, but I find peace in the gathering we had today to know our community can come together in a time like this," Bryant said

Outside a candlelight vigil was held where many described the program as touching and say they still feel safe on campus. But junior Zach Ader and graduate student Tonderai Mushipe say they don’t take that safety for granted.

"I read a lot of things from others saying you never think it would happen to your campus, and I believe that. But the gravity of the situation, it can happen to anyone at any point and that’s terrible," Ader said.

"There are a lot of open buildings so whether a mall, church or mosque, these are accessible, so it’s not that difficult for someone to walk in with a gun and shoot," Mushipe said. "That’s what sad about it. Next week, it could be another campus. I wish I had a more positive outlook."

As she made her way through the thousands of lit candles, with a bouquet of flowers in her arms, Gabby Zambrano, a friend and coworker of injured student Emily Houpt, had good news.

"She got shot in her back, but she was able to text me back and told me she was fine and she’s home now," Zambrano said.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Dubois had this rallying call for the campus.

"UNC Charlotte cannot be and will not be defined by this tragedy," Dubois said. "We must be defined by how we respond to it."

Copyright 2021 WFAE. To see more, visit WFAE.

UNC Charlotte vigil for students killed and injured by shooter on campus.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
UNC Charlotte vigil for students killed and injured by shooter on campus.
Tonderai Mushipe, a graduate student at UNC Charlotte, says given the openness of the campus, he's not surprised by the shooting.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Tonderai Mushipe, a graduate student at UNC Charlotte, says given the openness of the campus, he's not surprised by the shooting.
Candles are given to those attending the vigil
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Candles are given to those attending the vigil
Somber music played during vigil for shooting victims at UNC Charlotte
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Somber music played during vigil for shooting victims at UNC Charlotte
UNC Charlotte student Dweller Parker hands out tissues as people arrive for the vigil at Halton Arena
Gwendolyn Glenn /
UNC Charlotte student Dweller Parker hands out tissues as people arrive for the vigil at Halton Arena
Students organized a vigil for UNC Charlotte students injured and killed by a shooter on campus.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Students organized a vigil for UNC Charlotte students injured and killed by a shooter on campus.
During the candlelight vigil, students hold posters with the names of the two UNC Charlotte students killed by a shooter in their classroom.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
During the candlelight vigil, students hold posters with the names of the two UNC Charlotte students killed by a shooter in their classroom.
Kristine Slade (l) an organizer of the vigil and Chandler Creane, student body president, call for unity.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Kristine Slade (l) an organizer of the vigil and Chandler Creane, student body president, call for unity.
Gabby Zambrano says her friend Emily Houpt, who was injured in the shooting, was released from the hospital on Wednesday.
Gwendolyn Glenn /
Gabby Zambrano says her friend Emily Houpt, who was injured in the shooting, was released from the hospital on Wednesday.
Gwendolyn Glenn /

Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Stories From This Author