Authorities charged a University of North Carolina graduate student Tuesday with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his faculty advisor, in an attack that caused a campus lockdown while police searched for the gunman.
— Authorities charged a University of North Carolina graduate student Tuesday with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his faculty advisor, in an attack that caused a campus lockdown while police searched for the gunman.
During a brief hearing, Judge Sherri Murrell ordered 34-year-old Tailei Qi to remain jailed without bond as an interpreter explained to Qi in Mandarin what was happening in the courtroom. She scheduled his next court date for Sept. 18.
Dana Graves, a public defender who represented Qi during the hearing, left the courtroom without talking to reporters.
Qi is charged with first-degree murder and having a 9mm handgun on educational property in the the Monday killing of Zijie Yan inside of a science building on UNC’s flagship campus in Chapel Hill. The attack led to a roughly three-hour lockdown of the campus, a week after students returned for the start of the fall semester.
Authorities haven’t publicly speculated as to a motive for the attack.
Yan was an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences who had worked for the university since 2019, UNC said in a statement Tuesday, noting that it has been in contact with Yan’s family and is providing them with resources and support.
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a message to the UNC community that his team had met with Yan’s colleagues and family to express condolences on behalf of the campus.
“He was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus,” Guskiewicz said.
On Wednesday, the school’s iconic Bell Tower will ring in honor of Yan’s memory and students are encouraged to take a moment of silence, he wrote.
