UNC Charlotte holds Day of Remembrance two years after deadly campus shooting
UNC Charlotte holds day of remembrance 2 years after shooting By WBTV Web Staff | April 30, 2021 at 9:54 AM EDT - Updated April 30 at 9:15 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Friday marked two years since the deadly shooting on UNC Charlotte’s campus. The university is holding a Day of Remembrance in honor of the six students who were shot while final student presentations were underway on April 30, 2019.
The university asked those in the community to wear green in solidarity and to share personal reflections.
Ellis Reed Parlier, 19, and Riley Howell, 21, were killed in the shooting. Rami Alramadhan, 20, Sean Dehart, 20, Emily Houpt, 23, and Drew Pescaro, 19, were injured in the shooting.
Though segregation legally ended more than 50 years ago, an unofficial divide remains in the pews of many churches across the country.
Bishop Marcus Strong with Destiny Life Center in Shelby said he and his congregation hope to be an example of a change in culture.
Strong says Destiny Life Center members are diverse and offer a look at unity that can be achieved when racial stigmas are checked at the church door.
“Every Sunday we’re doing something in regards to racial reconciliation, peace and harmony,” he said in the weeks and months of protests across the country.
Their focus on unity did not prompt them to shy away from calling out racial injustice during protests that followed the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. They also attended a Cleveland County Board of Commissioners meeting to show support of removing the Confederate monument on the old court square in Shelby.