The shooting, which occurred on the last day of classes for the spring semester, sent six people to the hospital, two of whom were dead upon arrival, and left three others in critical condition.
"[19] At the time the shooting was reported, UNC Charlotte police chief Jeff Baker and around 14 of his officers were reviewing security plans for a Waka Flocka Flame concert scheduled to be held on campus that evening; according to Baker, "when we heard this call come out we all converged [on the Kennedy Building] almost immediately.
The gunman was arrested by 5:44 p.m.[24] Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department SWAT in conjunction with Charlotte Fire Department Special Tactical Units had secured buildings on campus by 6:35 p.m., with the suspected gunman identified as a male student at UNCC at 6:55 p.m.[24] Governor Roy Cooper was briefed about the shooting by 7:11 p.m.[24] By 7:30 p.m., the gunman, by then identified as Trystan A. Terrell, had been brought to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Jail, with the CMPD declaring the campus secure at 7:40 p.m.[24] UNC Charlotte remained on lockdown until around 10:51 p.m.[24] UNC Charlotte Police Department, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Office of Emergency Management established a family reunification center at the Harris Teeter in University City.
Howell was from Waynesville and was a graduate of T. C. Roberson High School, where he had run cross country and played on the soccer team.
[33] Pescaro, from Apex, is a graduate of Middle Creek High School in Cary, and is studying communications at UNC Charlotte.
He is a sportswriter for the student newspaper, a video assistant for the football team, and co-host of the UNCC sports talk show Fans with Attitude.
[38] In December 2019, the publication Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - The Visual Dictionary included "Jedi Master and historian Ri-Lee Howell.
"[39] Chancellor Phillip Dubois said the university would award Howell and Parlier "degrees in memoriam" at the spring commencement, with a special presentation ceremony for Houpt, who was expected to recover sufficiently enough to personally attend.
[40] Trystan Andrew Terrell (born June 6, 1996)[41] is a former history undergraduate at UNC Charlotte who had withdrawn from the university on February 14, 2019.
[47] He said Terrell dreamed of working in South America, and taught himself French and Portuguese with the aid of a language learning program Rold had bought for him.
[47] Rold said he blamed lax gun laws for making firearms too easy to obtain, and that if his grandson "had not been able to secure a weapon, this would never have happened.
"[47] From the fall of 2015 through the spring of 2018, Terrell was enrolled at Central Piedmont Community College where he studied for an associate degree in science.
[42] Transferring to UNC Charlotte in the fall of 2018, he enrolled in three university courses for the 2019 spring semester, including Johnson's, and attended classes in the room where he committed the shooting.
"[14] Cooper Creech, a former classmate in the same course, said Terrell rarely spoke in the classroom, but would "blurt out statements" and sometimes seemed oddly angry.
In subsequent statements requesting search warrants from a court, lead investigator Detective Brian Koll of the CMPD wrote Terrell "stated he had been planning this shooting for several months and described to detectives where and how he obtained the firearm, research he had conducted on mass shootings, and how he chose this location.
"[51] In his confession, Terrell reportedly referenced the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which police sources said he had "researched" at length.
Dressed in black,[51] he took the light rail to campus on the day of the shooting, carrying a backpack; CMPD investigators intended to review available security footage along the line.
[44] Terrell told investigators that he had entered the Kennedy Building with the intention of shooting others; before attacking, he loaded his weapon in a restroom near the classroom.
[40] In the wake of the shooting, the Waka Flocka Flame concert originally scheduled to take place at the Jerry Richardson Stadium on campus later that evening was canceled.
Enhanced security measures were implemented for spring commencement ceremonies, including walk-through and handheld metal detectors and inspecting bags.
[40] To honor the victims and survivors of the shooting, UNC Charlotte developed "Niner Nation Remembers," a permanent online memorial and archive.
Headed by Emily Zimmern, a past president and CEO of the Levine Museum of the New South, the Commission included faculty, staff, alumni, and student body representatives along with leaders in the greater Charlotte community, Reed Parlier's uncle, and two current members of the university staff and faculty who had been at Virginia Tech at the time of the 2007 shooting.
On May 7, a group of UNC Charlotte students presented a list of demands at a meeting of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, which included the implementation of a “school exit program” for students who drop out of Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools, including exit interviews and job assistance.
[60] Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles stated on Twitter, "My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others.
[62] Lucasfilm honored Riley Howell, a student who died at the shooting, by naming a Jedi after him in its book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - The Visual Dictionary.