23-year-old Trystan Terrell will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering two students and injuring four others when he opened fire on a classroom at the University of North Carolina Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, shooting indiscriminately in an attack he had been planning for months.
Trystan gave a full confession to investigators.
Trystan had a mental disorder, yet he still plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, and discharging a firearm on educational property. Trystan was given a sentence of 2 consecutive life sentences in prison on September 19, 2019.
Trystan was autistic and suffered from a mental disorder, his family says.
On April 30, 2019 at UNC Charlotte students were giving a presentation in an anthropology class at the Kennedy Building when Trystan burst into the class with a pistol and began firing at students seated at nearby tables. The room erupted in chaos as students began to flee.
Ellis Reed Parlier, 19, was likely the first victim struck by the gunfire. He was shot multiple times and died. During the attack, 21-year-old Riley Howell charged Trystan, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. Riley suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one at close range and died.
Riley’s actions ended the shooting and ultimately saved other classmates’ lives. After being tackled by Riley, the defendant remained lying on the floor.
Prosecutors say four additional students, Rami Alramadhan, Sean DeHart, Emily Houpt, and Drew Pescaro were transported to local hospitals, where they were treated for gunshot wounds. All four survived.
At the murder scene on UNC Charlott’s campus Trystan had a pistol, an empty 17-round magazine, as well as 17 additional magazines that were each fully loaded with 17 live bullets.
At the beginning of the semester, Trystan had been a student in the anthropology class he shot up. He had attended a few weeks of class but then withdrew entirely from the university. Trystan says he became interested in mass shootings and began planning an attack around August 2018. Trystan bought a gun and began practicing at a shooting range, he told no one about his plans.
