UNC-Charlotte mass shooting survivor, now set to graduate, describes how tragedy has shaped him
Friday marks two years since a gunman opened fire in a classroom on UNC-Charlotte’s campus, killing two students and injuring four.
The gunman, Trystan Terrell, was sentenced to two life terms in prison.
Thursday, WRAL’s Kirsten Gutierrez sat down with one of the four survivors, Drew Pescaro, who despite the tragedy he endured, will graduate from UNCC next month.
"It was obviously a life-changing experience to go through something as horrific and terrible is this," he described. “For me, personally, it’s something that I quite literally think about every single day for the past two years now.“
He still has vivid memories of the day a gunman walked into his anthropology class at UNC-Charlotte.
"There’s screaming, there’s people running out of the classroom, there’s still flashing from the shots coming from the gun and the smell. All those details are still very much -- I can still remember them instantly,” Pescaro said.
Two students were killed – Riley Howell and Ellis Parlier. Four others, including Pescaro, were injured in that classroom.
“I was shot in my lower right back, pretty close to my spine," he described. "Thankfully it didn’t hit. It went through my lower right abdomen.“
He spent 27 days in the hospital fighting for his life. As he works to move past this tragedy through therapy, the news of more than 145 mass shootings so far this year doesn’t help.
"It’s definitely a mixed bag of emotions. Anger, sadness, just fear and it’s just hopelessness honestly," he said.
Pescaro tells us he still looks over his shoulder in class. Despite the fear, the now 21-year-old continued his education at UNCC and will graduate May 14.
"These are supposed to be very exciting and happy times, but when you live with something like this and have this coming up tomorrow, it’s hard to feel any sort of way about those exciting things," Pescaro said.
In memory of those who lost their lives and the victims in this tragic shooting, UNC-Charlotte is hosting a day of remembrance on Friday. There are several events scheduled, including a virtual ceremony that will be streamed live on the university’s website.
