The University of North Carolina (UNC) community is grappling with the tragic loss of a faculty member, Zijie Yan, who was fatally shot on Monday in the Caudill Laboratories on campus.
Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, was reportedly killed by Tailei Qi, a doctoral student at the university and the alleged gunman.
Yan had been a part of the UNC faculty since 2019, having previously served as an assistant professor at Clarkson University. He was a respected scholar in his field, holding a PhD in material engineering from New York's Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The incident, which occurred around 1 p.m., led to a lockdown of the campus, according to WRAL News. The accused, Qi, was apprehended nearly two hours after the shooting.
"This loss is devastating and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community," said UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz in a press conference on Monday. He further pledged to rebuild the sense of trust and safety within the university community, expressing his condolences to the family of the deceased and those personally affected by the incident.
Qi, who had been working closely with Yan's research group over the past year, had expressed discontent with the group on his social media account, previously known as Twitter. In posts from the summer and fall of 2022, he referred to group members as "tattletales" who frequently reported him to their "PI," or principal investigator.
In one post, Qi wrote, "Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales. Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic." It remains unclear whether Yan was the PI mentioned in Qi's posts.
Qi's social media activity took a concerning turn on May 30, 2023, when he lamented his lack of friends and alleged antagonism from his peers. "These kind of people may be a good man actually, but might not be a sincere friend," he wrote. "For a Phd student, pay much attention to working time every day is really childishI know many people want to me to show them working and working, but nothats not human at all."
On July 30, Yan, Qi, and another researcher published a joint paper on nanoparticles. The day after the publication, Qi posted a message seeking friends.
The motive behind the shooting remains undetermined as authorities continue their investigation, including the search for the firearm linked to Yan's death. UNC-Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian James confirmed that his department is collaborating with state and federal law enforcement agencies in the ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting.
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