Student Jack Siegel, a computer science major, said the shooting happened during an anthropology class.
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The students were presenting their final projects.
"Everyone was assigned teams at the beginning of the year," he said. "In fact, where your team was depended where you sat in class. Meaning, basically, because I was team 15, I sat by the exit and that's why I survived."
He didn't see whether the shooter was in the classroom already or came in after the class had started but he heard the gunshots.
"All of the sudden ... BANG BANG BANG BANG ... and then everyone started running," he said. "And at that point, it was automatic, instinctual flight."
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He said he got trampled in the doorway as he was trying to get out of the classroom but was able to pick himself up and leave.
Ellis Parlier, 19 of Midland, N.C., and Riley Howell, 21 of Waynesville, N.C., were both killed.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the shooting suspect as 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell.
"I just went into a classroom and shot the guys," he told reporters as officers led him away in handcuffs
He has been charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a firearm on educational property and discharging a firearm on educational property.