The College of North Carolina at Charlotte pupil who tackled a gunman final month has posthumously been awarded two of the navy’s highest honors.
Riley Howell, a 21-year-old Military ROTC cadet, earned a Purple Coronary heart and a Bronze Star for his actions April 30 when a gunman opened hearth in his classroom. Howell and 19-year-old Ellis Parlier had been killed within the assault.
Riley Howell, 21, was posthumously awarded a Purple Coronary heart and a Bronze Star after he tackled a gunman on the College of North Carolina at Charlotte in April.
(Matthew Westmoreland through AP/Waynesville Police Division)
Howell’s household had been introduced with the honors by the Waynesville Police Division. Thomas Matteo, of the Purple Coronary heart Society, personally spoke to Howell’s household to inform them he believed their son was a hero.
UNCC SHOOTING VICTIM RILEY HOWELL ‘SAVED LIVES’ BY TACKLING GUNMAN, POLICE SAY
The Purple Coronary heart is awarded to these within the U.S. armed forces who’re injured or killed in battle. A Bronze Star is given to those that exhibit “heroic or meritorious achievement or service.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney stated after the taking pictures that Howell “did precisely what we prepare individuals to do.”
Howell was fatally shot in April when a gunman opened hearth on the College of North Carolina at Charlotte, police stated.
(Yearbook picture)
“You are both gonna run, gonna conceal and protect, otherwise you’re gonna take the battle to the assailant,” the police chief stated. “Having no place to run and conceal, he did the final.”
It could be an “understatement” to say Howell tackled the gunman, but it surely “could be applicable,” in keeping with Putney. He stated that if Howell did not strategy the gunman, the attacker “won’t have been disarmed.”
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“Sadly, he gave his life within the course of. However his sacrifice saved lives,” Putney stated of Howell. “What he did was, he took the assailant off his ft, after which the heroes that now we have right here had been in a position to apprehend him from there.”
Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was arrested and charged with homicide, tried homicide and different offenses associated to the assault, which, along with killing two, injured 4 college students.
