Suspected university gunman seen for first time after arrest in police mugshot

29 August 2023 , 17:44

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Tailei Qi has been charged with first-degree murder (Image: AP)

The first photo of a graduate student who police allege shot and killed a university member of staff causing a campus lockdown has been released by police.

University of North Carolina (UNC) graduate student Tailei Qi, 34, was charged today with first-degree murder after the fatal shooting of his faculty advisor in an attack which caused the campus to be locked down while police searched for the gunman.

Qi is due in court later today for an initial hearing following the fatal shooting which took place yesterday, August 28. Qi is alleged to have shot Zijie Yan inside of a science building on the Chapel Hill campus.

Tailei Qi makes his first appearance in court following the fatal shooting of a University of North Carolina staff member (AP)

He has also been charged with having a 9mm handgun on educational property, according to a warrant for his arrest.

Qi, who lives in Chapel Hill, was arrested during a lockdown lasting around three hours following the shooting, authorities confirmed in a news conference on Monday. UNC Police Chief Brian James said: "To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today.

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Qi was arrested during a lockdown that lasted around three hours (AP)

"Why today, why at all? And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus."

Campus police received a 911 call saying there had been shots fired at Caudill Labs shortly after 1pm yesterday, said Chief James. An emergency alert was issued and sirens sounded two minutes later, triggering a lockdown that led frightened students and faculty to barricade themselves inside dorm rooms, bathrooms, classrooms and other school facilities.

Qi has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon on educational property, both felony charges (AP)

When officers arrived at the lab building they found a faculty member who had been fatally shot. Based on witness information, police took the suspect into custody shortly after 2.30pm, according to the chief.

Though Chief James declined to elaborate on the arrest itself, local station WRAL reported it took place in a residential neighbourhood near the campus. The lockdown was lifted at around 4.15pm.

Zijie 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. It went on to say: "The University is in contact with Yan's family and is providing resources and support."

Police locked down the Chapel Hill campus at the University of North Carolina (WRAL)

"This loss is devastating, and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community," said Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. Qi was listed on the school's website as a graduate student in Zijie Yan's research group, with Yan listed as an advisor. However, that page has been taken down since the attack.

Yan led the Yan Research Group, which Qi is said to have joined last year according to the group's UNC webpage. He earned his PhD in materials engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and previously worked as an assistant professor at Clarkson University.

Qi is a graduate student in the department of applied physical sciences who studies nanoparticle synthesis and light-matter interaction. He moved to the US from China after earning his bachelor's degree in physics at Wuhan University, according to the UNC webpage for the Yan Research Group.

The shooting took place at the state's flagship public university just a week after students returned for the start of the autumn semester and school year. 23-year-old Clayton Ulm, a graduate student, said he was in a class of between 50 and 70 people when they were told to go into lockdown.

Law enforcement and first responders respond to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus (AP)

The alarm system had gone off, but screens in the classroom had also glared with the lockdown order. In a message sent while he was still in the classroom, heading into his third hour of lockdown, Clayton said: "Then there was quite a bit of panic as students were trying to figure out what to do.

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"Then we all started hiding beneath our chairs and under desks. Some students went and locked the doors."

Students began listening to police scanners to try and gather information as to where the shooter was, said Clayton, with people not able to use nearby restrooms. He said it was "surreal seeing the mass panic".

The Chapel Hill campus was put into lockdown for hours (AP)

Around two hours after the first alert went out, officers were still arriving in droves, with about 50 police vehicles at the scene and helicopters circling over the school. It took around an hour and a half to lift the lockdown following Qi's arrest as authorities were making sure they had the right suspect in custody, according to Chief James.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Qi had an attorney who could comment on his behalf, there is no attorney listed for Qi on the warrant and Orange County court records aren't accessible online. The university said he was being held without bail.

Fiona Leishman