He’d been on duty since 5 p.m. and it was already shaping up to be a busy night, but as Eric Batchelor sat in his patrol car writing up reports around 2 a.m. on July 28, 2020, he got another call about a disturbance. 

Law enforcement is investigating an early morning shooting that occurred just before 3 a.m. this morning near milepost 364 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“But for the grace of God, it could have been my child.”

News of college and school shootings cut straight to the heart of all parents, and I really can’t count how many times I’ve silently mouthed those words. Selfish thinking, in part, but I would be a liar if I didn’t admit to owning such sentiments when I first hear of shootings like those at Virginia Tech or Sandy Hook or (insert tragic school shooting here).

At this time last week, few knew of him and most all those who did were of the home — Waynesville, in Haywood County. 

The first time I heard his name roll off the tongues of these Western North Carolinians on that bright morning, it was Howl. Riley Howl. Like Ginsburg’s Howl, the “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” Howl. 

It’s barely been a week since Riley Howell’s heroic acts at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, but a group of people who knew him best have already established a charitable foundation that will ensure that his heroism did not end on the day he died. 

A senseless tragedy. Those words are repeated over and over again in the aftermath of mass shootings in the United States.

Although the impact of the shooting at UNC Charlotte will continue to be felt for some time, residents of the rural community that raised Riley Howell have begun the healing process today by welcoming the hero home.

Last Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

It’s been on mind all this week, between new reports remembering that day and also my own personal thoughts. I was 14 years old and in eighth grade on April 20, 1999. It was spring break. My parents, little sister and I piled into the old minivan in Upstate New York and headed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland is being sued for wrongful death after his deputy Anthony Momphard Jr. shot and killed Scott Knibbs in his home a year ago. 

District Attorney Greg Newman confirmed Monday morning that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of North Carolina released its toxicology report concerning Michael Scott Knibbs, who was shot by Macon County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Wade Momphard, Jr. on April 30, 2018, after Knibbs aimed a loaded shotgun at the deputy sheriff. The toxicology report shows that Knibbs’ blood alcohol level at the time of the incident was 0.23, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08 when driving a car.