The commission charged with finding the best way to memorialize two students killed and four more injured in an April 30, 2019, classroom shooting at UNC Charlotte has recommended a $1 million memorial and a repurposing of the room where the shooting took place.
According to the Niner Nation Remembrance Commission Final Report released Tuesday evening, a “significant, focal memorial and commemorative space in Belk Plaza” would honor by name Reed Parlier and Riley Howell, the two students killed by a gunman, with the goal for it to be completed by 2022.
The proposal outlines a timeline for design proposals, groundbreaking and completion of the memorial, with the April 30 anniversary serving as a date for the most significant touchstones in the process.
Additionally, the committee recommends a series of exhibits that would highlight memorial items, scholarships named in honor of Parlier and Howell, and a Day of Remembrance.
Further, the committee recommends that the classroom where the shooting took place, Kennedy 236, be repurposed into a “contemplative space.” Currently, the classroom and adjoining Kennedy 234 are not being used.
