10/05/2026
In April 2019, 21-year-old Riley Howell was killed after tackling a gunman who opened fire inside a classroom at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Riley, a lifelong Star Wars fan, was credited by police with helping prevent further injuries and deaths during the shooting. His love for the franchise was well known to his family and friends, who remembered how much the Jedi and their stories meant to him.
After his death, Lucasfilm contacted Riley’s family and told them that its Story Group had created a character in the Star Wars galaxy as a tribute to him. His name was reimagined as Ri-Lee Howell, who appears in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Visual Dictionary as a Jedi Master and historian who documented some of the earliest accounts of exploration and the Force.
Riley’s family later said he would have loved the tribute, especially because his last name was kept in the character’s name. His girlfriend and family had described Star Wars as something he had been passionate about for much of his life, making the decision to honor him within the universe particularly meaningful.
