CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The man charged with killing two North Carolina university students and wounding four others in their classroom in April has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
Trystan Andrew Terrell also pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of attempted murder and discharge of a firearm on educational property. State prosecutors accepted Terrell’s plea during a hearing that was previously scheduled to decide whether the gunman could face the death penalty for the killings at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Terrell had faced the charges in connection with the April 30 shooting as classmates gathered in a lecture hall.
Terrell told investigators he gave up on the attack after being tackled by one of the students who died.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man accused in the fatal shootings on a North Carolina college campus last spring is scheduled to make a court appearance.
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office says Trystan Andrew Terrell will appear for an arraignment on Thursday at around 2 p.m. The DA’s office said in a statement that the hearing was originally scheduled as a Rule 24 hearing, in which it’s determined whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Such hearings are held in first-degree murder cases.
Terrell is charged with murder and other counts in connection with the shootings in a classroom at UNC Charlotte on April 30, killing two students and wounding four others. One of the slain students, Riley Howell, was credited with saving lives by charging Terrell and taking him to the floor.
CBS affiliate WBTV reports Terrell is expected to please guilty to avoid the death penalty.
