Final recommendation made for UNCC memorial to honor shooting victims

CHARLOTTE — The Niner Nation Remembrance Commission has released its final report for a memorial on the University of North Carolina Charlotte’s campus to honor the six students shot in April 2019.

The commission recommended a “significant, focal memorial and commemorative space in Belk Plaza.”

The memorial would remember Reed Parlier and Riley Howell, who were killed in the shooting, as well as honor the four other students who were shot.

The commission hopes this memorial will evoke the unity, strength and resilience of the UNCC community.

“I think that there are a lot of other families involved other than us that need a place to think or go or reflect,” Riley’s father, Thomas Howell, said.

As for the classroom in Kennedy Hall where the shooting happened, the commission recommended no longer using it as a classroom.

Instead, it said the room should be re-purposed while creating another commemorative space in the building to mark the tragedy.

The Niner Nation Remembrance Commission said there will not be an official decision until April 2021, but it recommended spending $1 million on the memorial and commemorative space.

There are already plans in the works to mark the one year anniversary of the deadly shooting in April.

UNCC shooting victim to be immortalized as a Jedi in Star Wars universe UNCC shooting victim to be immortalized as a Jedi in Star Wars universe

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