CNN's Chris Cuomo pays tribute to Riley Howell, whose sacrifice during the UNC shooting holds a lesson

Riley Howell died for America's sins
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

Students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte received a text alert soon after shots were fired on campus at 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday: "Run, Hide, Fight." The gunman was in Riley Howell's classroom, and "having no place to run and hide, he did the last," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Wednesday. Howell, 21, ran at the gunman and knocked him off his feet, but it cost him his life; he was one of two people fatally shot, along with Ellis "Reed" Parlier, 19. Four other people were wounded.

"But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed,” Putney said. "Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives," and Howell was "the first and foremost hero" on Tuesday.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.