Every once in a while, real life gives us a hero who feels like they stepped straight out of Star Wars. Riley Howell, a lifelong fan who died while tackling an active shooter at UNC Charlotte in 2019, has now been officially honored in Star Wars canon. In a recent reference book, Lucasfilm immortalized him as a Jedi Knight, recognizing his courage, selflessness, and sacrifice in the most meaningful way the galaxy far, far away can offer.
Riley Howell’s Final Act of Bravery
On April 30, 2019, tragedy struck UNC Charlotte when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom. In the middle of the chaos, one student didn’t run, hide, or hesitate.
Riley Howell charged straight at the shooter.
According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Riley’s actions were immediate and decisive. He tackled the gunman head-on, pinning him long enough for police to rush in and stop the attack. His decision — made in just a few seconds — saved multiple students in the room.
Police later said plainly that without Riley’s intervention, the death toll would have been far higher. It was the kind of bravery you’d expect from a firefighter, a soldier, or in Star Wars terms… a Jedi Knight.
Riley wasn’t acting out of impulse or anger. Friends and family described him as someone who always protected others, the kind of person who put himself between danger and the people he loved. Even in his final moments, that’s exactly who he was.
He grew up loving Star Wars, quoting the movies, collecting the stories, and living by the values of courage and selflessness the saga celebrates. And on that day in Charlotte, he lived those ideals in the most real way possible.
His family later said something that stayed with fans everywhere:
“He died the way he lived — helping others.”
Lucasfilm’s Tribute in Canon
After Riley’s death, Lucasfilm quietly reached out to his family with a letter. It wasn’t a big press move, just a personal message. In it, they wrote that his courage “brings out the Jedi in all of us,” and told the family they wanted to honor him in a way that would truly mean something.
That turned into an in-universe tribute.
Lucasfilm’s Story Group re-imagined Riley as a Jedi inside the Star Wars galaxy and placed him in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Visual Dictionary. There, he appears as Jedi Master Ri-Lee Howell, a historian who helped preserve some of the oldest Jedi knowledge.
The entry reads:
The Aionomica is described as a two-volume codex compiling some of the earliest explorations of the Force. In-universe, it’s one of the most important historical works in Jedi culture—the kind of thing Luke Skywalker would study while trying to rebuild the Order. Ri-Lee Howell is credited with gathering scattered writings from early sages, keeping the original pages intact, and preserving them long before later Jedi tried to copy portions into holocrons that ended up lost by the sequel era.
Because of that work, knowledge that might have vanished survives into the time of Rey and Kylo Ren.
It’s a small entry on a page in a visual dictionary, but the meaning behind it is huge. For a fan who loved Star Wars and gave his life protecting others, the galaxy far, far away now has a Jedi Master who bears his name—and whose whole role is about safeguarding the light.