UNC shooting updates: Students demand gun control with powerful newspaper front page after Chapel Hill attack
Students at the University of North Carolina are demanding action on gun control in the wake of Monday’s deadly Chapel Hill campus shooting.
Around 600 students took part in a rally on Wednesday calling for stricter state gun laws and holding a moment of silence for slain professor Zijie Yan.
The student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel marked the tragedy with a powerful front page on Wednesday, featuring the terrified text messages sent by loved ones to its editor-in-chief during the active situation. The page has gone viral.
Many questions still remain about suspect Tailei Qi’s motive for the attack as the search for the gun continues.
Mr Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences, had complained about the victim online in the lead-up to the attack and railed against hard work, “girls and tattletales” and bullies in the US.
He was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriff’s Office jail on a first-degree murder charge for fatally shooting Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences.
Key Points
UNC faculty member killed in shooting at Chapel Hill campus
Who was UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim Zijie Yan?
Graduate student Tailei Qi charged with murder in shooting of faculty
VOICES: The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I love
07:00 , Andrea Blanco
“When I first set foot in Chapel Hill, I remember feeling at home at once,” writes Eric Garcia.
“Despite being a Yankee who grew up on the West Coast, and even as sweat forced me to repeatedly change shirts amid the August humidity, the University of North Carolina was love at first sight for me.
“The words of novelist and alumnus Thomas Wolfe that Chapel Hill “was as close to magic as I’ve ever been” rang as true to me as the gongs from the Bell Tower on campus tell the changing of time.
“... That innocence left Chapel Hill when Tailei Qi allegedly opened fire and killed his academic adviser, Zijie Yan. This singular act punctured this little slice of heaven and exposed it to the world around us and to the sickness that is American gun violence.”
Read in full:
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I call home
Middle school’s principal criticised for ‘racist response’ to UNC shooting
05:00 , Andrea Blanco
A Wayne County school’s principal has faced severe backlash for his alleged racist response to the UNC-Chapel Hill shooting.
Wendy H Waters, the principal of Spring Creek Middle School, wrote on Facebook that there was “nothing white about him”, referring to the suspect accused of fatally shooting an associate professor.
She added an image of the suspect, Tailei Qi, to her post, CBS17 reported.
She continued: “My bet is he’s a Chinese Nationalist as a ‘visiting student’ stealing our intellectual property working for the CCP [Communist Party of China].”
In a statement from Wayne County schools, the district said Ms Waters’s comments “do not reflect the views of the school district” and that the matter is now under review.
Zijie Yan ‘sweet, dedicated’ researcher and father, colleague says
03:00 , Andrea Blanco
Doug Chrisey, Yan’s former advisor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, shared a heartfelt tribute on Tuesday.
“He would knock on my door with incredible experimental results and a huge smile ... He would leave feeling he didn’t understand anything about the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles, but still with a huge smile,” Mr Chrisey wrote in a Facebook post, according to The News & Observer.
“He had a resting sweet face — and everything about his personality was consistent with that,”
WATCH: Graduate student charged in UNC at Chapel Hill murder
01:00 , Andrea Blanco
‘I know exactly who it is’: 911 caller reported shooter moments after the attack
Thursday 31 August 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco
A 911 call obtained by The News & Observer detailed the horror following an attack inside UNC’s Caudil Laboratories that left 38-year-old applied sciences assistant professor Zijie Yan dead.
When asked if they knew the shooter, the caller said: “I do ... I know exactly who it is.”
“I know who the student is. His name is Tailei Qi and he has a gun and he’s on campus.”
The caller then said that they had seen the shooter leaving the scene and that he had used a short gun.
Mr Qi was charged with Yan’s murder.
Yan was the head of his department and also Mr Qi’s academic advisor.
2019 shooting at different UNC campus left two people dead
Thursday 31 August 2023 21:52 , Andrea Blanco
Harrowingly, the horror on Monday was a somewhat familiar sight for the UNC community coming four years after a mass shooting at the Charlotte campus.
Back on 30 April 2019 – on the last day of the spring semester classes – two people were killed and four injured in a mass shooting inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building.
The gunman – identified as former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell – was arrested soon after.
In September 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced life without the possibility of parole.
UNC at Chapel Hill students demand gun control
Thursday 31 August 2023 19:10 , Andrea Blanco
Hundreds of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill marched in a rally, demanding that lawmakers address gun violence across the state.
Students from different groups, including March For Our Lives and Students Demand Action, participated in the rally while holding up a large banner that read: “This is our reality.”
“In a matter of seconds, we went from taking notes, walking in the quad, being at home, to being forced to run, barricade the doors; there’s nothing normal about returning to school tomorrow,” said Kyle Lumsden, a volunteer with UNC Students Demand Action, according to The News&Observer.
“There’s nothing normal about hearing from people, ‘Thoughts and prayers,’ and the continuous idea that we cannot prevent these tragedies.”
Mitchell Pinsky, a UNC graduate student and member of Students Demand Action, added: “We can’t even make it a full two weeks without gun violence wreaking havoc on our campus.”
Death penalty for alleged gunman is not on the table, DA says
Thursday 31 August 2023 16:37 , Andrea Blanco
The district attorney will reportedly not seek the death penalty for Tailei Qi – the suspected gunman charged with fatally shooting a UNC professor on campus.
Mr Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of associate professor Zijie Yan, and with possessing a 9mm pistol on campus.
District attorney Jeff Nieman said he would not seek the death penalty against Mr Qi, according to News&Observer.
Mr Nieman said an eyewitness led law enforcement officers to Mr Qi in a neighbourhood off campus after a 911 caller had reported shots fired inside Caudill Labs.
UNC shooting suspect will not face death penalty, DA says
Thursday 31 August 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco
A district attorney has ruled out the possibility of seeking the death penalty for the UNC doctoral student accused of murdering his academic advisor in a shooting that sparked terror across the Chapel Hill campus.
The UNC community is still reeling from a shooting on Monday that left one faculty member dead and forced frantic students fearing for their lives to barricade themselves inside lecture halls.
Tailei Qi, an applied sciences PhD student at UNC, has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon on academic premises in connection with the fatal shooting of his lab advisor Zijie Yan.
Read more:
UNC shooting suspect will not face death penalty, DA says
How ‘Stand Your Ground’ gun laws are fuelling shootings and racism
Thursday 31 August 2023 13:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
In America, seemingly any interaction, from the innocuous to the intimidating, can end in gun violence.
Consider this year alone.
April saw multiple high-profile shootings. In Kansas City, Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old with dreams of pursuing a career in engineering, was shot at point blank range for ringing the wrong doorbell.
A group of young cheerleaders in Texas were shot when one accidentally entered the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot. Kaylin Gillis, 20, was fatally gunned down in rural New York after mistakenly pulling into the wrong driveway.
And Kinsley White, a six-year-old from Gastonia, North Carolina, was shot alongside her parents when her basketball rolled into a neighbour’s garden.
Josh Marcus reports.
‘License to kill’: How ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws are fuelling shootings and racism
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I love
Thursday 31 August 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco
“As soon as I got a text from a friend that a shooting was happening on campus, my heart sank,” The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes.
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I call home
UNC student newspaper features powerful front page after shooting
Thursday 31 August 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco
The Daily Tar Heel’s powerful cover on Wednesday came together as the UNC at Chapel Hill continued to reel from the terrifying lockdown on Monday and the loss of assistant professor Zijie Yan.
The DTH’s print managing editor Caitlyn Yaede told The Independent that she had become emotional as she typed the heartwrenching messages on the front page.
“I’m in class, everyone is losing it,” “Are you safe? Where are you?” or “Come on sweetheart - I need to hear from you” were only a few of the dozens of texts included.
Read more:
UNC student newspaper features powerful front page after shooting
University to return to normal operations from today
Thursday 31 August 2023 11:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will return to normal operations at 12am on Thursday, it said in a statement.
The university had cancelled all classes and non-mandatory operations following the fatal shooting of a professor.
Alleged shooter Tailei Qi described as ‘somewhat reserved’
Thursday 31 August 2023 11:00 , Andrea Blanco
Wen Liu, a 2022 UNC graduate who worked in the lab with Qi, said told the AP that he was “somewhat reserved” but still “pretty sociable.”
“For hours he would just be doing things and explaining along the way,” Liu said.
Liu also said that Qi would often answer other lab member’s questions with “patience and respect.”
District attorney will not seek death penalty for Qi
Thursday 31 August 2023 10:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
The district attorney will reportedly not seek the death penalty for Tailei Qi – the suspected gunman charged with fatally shooting a UNC professor on campus.
Mr Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of associate professor Zijie Yan, and with possessing a 9mm pistol on campus.
District attorney Jeff Nieman said he would not seek the death penalty against Mr Qi, according to News&Observer.
Mr Nieman said an eyewitness led law enforcement officers to Mr Qi in a neighbourhood off campus after a 911 caller had reported shots fired inside Caudill Labs.
Mentor remembers ‘sweet, dedicated’ slain professor Zaijei Yan
Thursday 31 August 2023 10:00 , Andrea Blanco
Doug Chrisey, Yan’s former advisor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, shared a heartfelt tribute on Tuesday.
“He would knock on my door with incredible experimental results and a huge smile ... He would leave feeling he didn’t understand anything about the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles, but still with a huge smile,” Mr Chrisey wrote in a Facebook post, according to The News & Observer.
“He had a resting sweet face — and everything about his personality was consistent with that,”
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I love
Thursday 31 August 2023 09:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
When I first set foot in Chapel Hill, I remember feeling at home at once.
Despite being a Yankee who grew up on the West Coast, and even as sweat forced me to repeatedly change shirts amid the August humidity, the University of North Carolina was love at first sight for me.
The words of novelist and alumnus Thomas Wolfe that Chapel Hill “was as close to magic as I’ve ever been” rang as true to me as the gongs from the Bell Tower on campus tell the changing of time, writes Eric Garcia.
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I call home
WATCH: UNC faculty member dead after shooting on Chapel Hill campus
Thursday 31 August 2023 09:00 , Andrea Blanco
Wayne County principal criticised for ‘racist response’ to UNC shooting
Thursday 31 August 2023 08:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
A Wayne County school’s principal has faced severe backlash for his alleged racist response to the UNC-Chapel Hill shooting.
Wendy H Waters, the principal of Spring Creek Middle School, wrote on Facebook that there was “nothing white about him”, referring to the suspect accused of fatally shooting an associate professor.
She added an image of the suspect, Tailei Qi, to her post, CBS17 reported.
She continued: “My bet is he’s a Chinese Nationalist as a ‘visiting student’ stealing our intellectual property working for the CCP [Communist Party of China].”
In a statement from Wayne County schools, the district said Ms Waters’s comments “do not reflect the views of the school district” and that the matter is now under review.
Who is UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi?
Thursday 31 August 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco
The suspect was identified on Tuesday as Tailei Qi, a graduate student who joined the Yan Lab of the college in 2022.
Based on his online bio at the UNC, he studied under Dr Zijie Yan – the leader of the physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group and head of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences.
Before joining UNC, Mr Qi previously studied material science at Louisiana State University and physics at Wuhan University.
A Twitter account believed to belong to Mr Qi reveals that he had railed against his work and his head of lab as well as what he described as “bullies” in the US before allegedly carrying out the shooting.
In a post on 1 August 2022, he wrote: “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time.
“Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.”
Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”.
“Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote.
“Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.”
He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member
Thursday 31 August 2023 07:00 , Andrea Blanco
The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled about his head of lab.
“Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one post in August 2022.
But – despite the complaints – the messages could not prepare anyone for the horror of what happened next.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
What we know about UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi
PICTURED: Alleged shooter Tailei Qi appears in court
Thursday 31 August 2023 06:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
UNC students march demanding gun control
Thursday 31 August 2023 06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Students march demanding gun control after campus shooting
Thursday 31 August 2023 05:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Hundreds of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill marched in a rally, demanding that lawmakers address gun violence across the state.
Students from different groups, including March For Our Lives and Students Demand Action, participated in the rally while holding up a large banner that read: “This is our reality.”
“In a matter of seconds, we went from taking notes, walking in the quad, being at home, to being forced to run, barricade the doors; there’s nothing normal about returning to school tomorrow,” said Kyle Lumsden, a volunteer with UNC Students Demand Action, according to The News&Observer.
“There’s nothing normal about hearing from people, ‘Thoughts and prayers,’ and the continuous idea that we cannot prevent these tragedies.”
Mitchell Pinsky, a UNC graduate student and member of Students Demand Action, added: “We can’t even make it a full two weeks without gun violence wreaking havoc on our campus.”
2019 shooting at different UNC campus left two people dead
Thursday 31 August 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco
Harrowingly, the horror on Monday was a somewhat familiar sight for the UNC community coming four years after a mass shooting at the Charlotte campus.
Back on 30 April 2019 – on the last day of the spring semester classes – two people were killed and four injured in a mass shooting inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building.
The gunman – identified as former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell – was arrested soon after.
In September 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced life without the possibility of parole.
UNC students seen jumping from windows in heartwrenching videos during active shooter situation
Thursday 31 August 2023 04:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Heartwrenching videos show students hiding under desks and jumping from classroom windows during an active shooter situation the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The campus was placed on lockdown for several hours on Monday afternoon after an alert went out about an “armed person”. Police later confirmed one member of the faculty was killed and a suspect, identified as graduate student Tailei Qi, was taken into custody.
The motive for the shooting, which took place at the centre of the campus in one of the science buildings, remains unclear.
Throughout much of the active situation, those under the “shelter in place” order did not have any idea what was going on.
Videos posted to social media captured sirens wailing as students and faculty barricaded themselves in dorms, bathrooms, classrooms, and gyms across the sprawling grounds.
Videos show students jumping from windows and hiding under desks during UNC shooting
UNC holds vigil in honor of slain professor Zijie Yan
Thursday 31 August 2023 03:59 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
UNC Chapel Hill graduate student Tailei Qi charged with murder in shooting of faculty member
Thursday 31 August 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco
A graduate student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has been charged with first-degree murder over the on-campus shooting that left one faculty member dead.
Tailei Qi, a second-year PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences, has been charged with the fatal shooting of his academic advisor, Zijie Yan. Mr Qi is facing charges of first-degree murder and carrying a weapon while on campus.
The suspect appeared in court on Tuesday and had an interpreter explain to him what happened in the courtroom in Mandarin, the Associated Press reports. He was ordered held without bond and his next court hearing was scheduled for 18 September.
A motive was not immediately clear. Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement on Tuesday that he has met with the family of the slain assistant professor’s family.
“My leadership team and I have met with his colleagues and family to express our condolences on behalf of our campus,” the statement read. “Please join me in thinking and praying for his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
Who was UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim Zijie Yan?
Thursday 31 August 2023 01:00 , Andrea Blanco
Authorities have identified the faculty member killed in Monday’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC PhD student Tailei Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences and a researcher. Mr Yan was listed as his alleged killer’s academic advisor on Mr Qi’s UNC profile, which has since been removed from the university’s website.
Before joining UNC in 2019, he was an assistant professor at Clarkson University in New York and received postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. The slain professor leaves behind two young daughters.
UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim identified as associate professor Zijie Yan
Student who survived Parkland shooting ‘forced to relive grief’ five years later in UNC attack
Thursday 31 August 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco
A student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—who was also a Parkland school shooting survivor—said she was “forced to relive grief” following the UNC shooting this week.
Bella Miller was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February 2018 when a gunman opened fire at his former high school, killing 17 people.
Read more:
Student who survived Parkland shooting ‘forced to relive grief’ in UNC attack
Students of Asian descent at UNC campus feared to be racially profiled after wrong arrest
Wednesday 30 August 2023 23:00
Shortly after the shelter-in-place order was issued, local media obtained footage of an on-campus arrest of who was believed to be the suspect in Monday’s shooting.
The young man was briefly handcuffed but was later released, with UNC police clarifying later that evening that authorities had mistaken the student, who was unaware of the lockdown, for the shooter because their “descriptions matched.”
Students of Asian descent told NBC News that they also feared they would be racially profiled before managing to find a place where they could barricade.
“We are all international Chinese. Sometimes I wear contacts but the other day I wore glasses. So I was a little bit afraid the police couldn’t differentiate me with the killer. If I came outside, I [could] also get handcuffed,” Johnson Wei told NBC.
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I love
Wednesday 30 August 2023 21:18 , Andrea Blanco
“As soon as I got a text from a friend that a shooting was happening on campus, my heart sank,” The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes.
The shooting in Chapel Hill took away the magic of a place I call home
A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting
Wednesday 30 August 2023 19:56 , Andrea Blanco
Tailei Qi shared several cryptic posts online after joining the University of North Carolina in 2022.
The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled about his head of lab.
What we know about UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi
DA says he will not seek the death penalty in Tailei Qi’s case
Wednesday 30 August 2023 18:48 , Andrea Blanco
Mr Qi appeared in court on Tuesday and was ordered held without bail. The suspect had a Mandarin interpreter during his arraignment who explained court proceedings to him and was scheduled to reappear in court next month.
Prosecutors did not share a potential motive for why Mr Qi allegedly carried out the attack on Yan. In an interview following the hearing, Orange County District Attorney Jeff Niemen said he would not be seeking the death penalty in Mr Qi’s case “or any case,” FOX8 reports.
Responding to criticism about his stance on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Nieman said: “I was very transparent about my position on the death penalty in candidate forums.”
As I explain in the post linked above, the final decision on the death penalty rests with a jury, but it is the prerogative of the district attorney to seek or not to seek it. I felt it was only right for the voters of Chatham and Orange Counties know my position on this issue…
— Jeff Nieman (@JeffNiemanNC) August 30, 2023
Alleged shooter Tailei Qi described as 'somewhat reserved’
Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:55 , Andrea Blanco
Wen Liu, a 2022 UNC graduate who worked in the lab with Qi, said told the AP that he was “somewhat reserved” but still “pretty sociable.”
“For hours he would just be doing things and explaining along the way,” Liu said.
Liu also said that Qi would often answer other lab member’s questions with “patience and respect.”
Mentor remembers slain professor Zaijei Yan as ‘swee, dedicated’ researcher
Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:05 , Andrea Blanco
Doug Chrisey, Yan’s former advisor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, shared a heartfelt tribute on Tuesday.
“He would knock on my door with incredible experimental results and a huge smile ... He would leave feeling he didn’t understand anything about the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles, but still with a huge smile,” Mr Chrisey wrote in a Facebook post, according to The News & Observer.
“He had a resting sweet face — and everything about his personality was consistent with that,”
Classes cancelled until Thursday, UNC to honour slain professor
Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:19 , Andrea Blanco
Classes at the UNC Chapel Hill campus have been cancelled until Thursday following an active shooting situation that sent faculty into a panic and left one dead.
A day after the violence that led to the arrest of doctoral student Tailei Qi, therapy dogs, peace signs and messages of hope could be seen around campus as the community reeled from the traumatizing scene on Monday, WSOCTV reported.
On Wednesday, UNC’s Bell Tower will ring in honour of slain professor Zinjie Yan, who had joined the university in 2019.
Professor who survived 2019 shooting at UNC Charlotte campus had to barricade with student on Monday
Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:01 , Andrea Blanco
In 2019 I survived my first shooting as a graduate teaching instructor at UNCC. Four years later, I have barricaded my 25 students in our classroom at UNC- that is all windows on one side as an active shooter is apparently across the street from us. This can’t be real. pic.twitter.com/teAdowI0B7
— Megan Foster (@spdancer222) August 28, 2023
UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim identified as associate professor Zijie Yan
Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:02 , Andrea Blanco
Authorities have identified the fatal victim in Monday’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC PhD student Tailei Qi has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the department of applied physical Sciences and researcher who also served as Qi’s adviser, according to the university’s website.
UNC at Chapel Hill student newspaper’s heartwrenching front page
Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:30 , Andrea Blanco
The Daily Tar Heel’s front page on Wednesday featured messages received and sent by students during the three-hour lockdown prompted by the active shooting situation on Monday.
The front page of tomorrow's @dailytarheel –
I shed many tears while typing up these heart-wrenching text messages sent and received by UNC students yesterday. Our campus was on lockdown for more than three hours.
Beyond proud of this cover and the team behind it. pic.twitter.com/2gE51TrHZ8— Caitlyn (she/her) (@caitlyn_yaede) August 30, 2023
Who is UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi?
Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco
The suspect was identified on Tuesday as Tailei Qi, a graduate student who joined the Yan Lab of the college in 2022.
Based on his online bio at the UNC, he studied under Dr Zijie Yan – the leader of the physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group and head of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences.
Before joining UNC, Mr Qi previously studied material science at Louisiana State University and physics at Wuhan University.
A Twitter account believed to belong to Mr Qi reveals that he had railed against his work and his head of lab as well as what he described as “bullies” in the US before allegedly carrying out the shooting.
In a post on 1 August 2022, he wrote: “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time.
“Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.”
Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”.
“Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote.
“Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.”
Slain professor Zinjie Yan’s alma mater issues statement
Wednesday 30 August 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where Yan got his master’s in physics electronics, posted a tribute on Tuesday.
“He is remembered fondly by many of us that met him in the classroom, lab, or in the hallway of MRC,” a Facebook post read. “Among other things, he distinguished himself with publishing 17 journal articles in the course of his PhD study...”
UNC at Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement on Tuesday that he has met with Yan’s family.
“My leadership team and I have met with his colleagues and family to express our condolences on behalf of our campus,” the statement read. “Please join me in thinking and praying for his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
Wednesday 30 August 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco
A University of North Carolina PhD student shared several posts on social media complaining about his academic adviser before allegedly shooting him dead in the science lab and plunging the Chapel Hill campus into lockdown.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
UNC shooting suspect’s Twitter complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
Tailei Qi posted online about grievances with bullies
Wednesday 30 August 2023 11:00 , Andrea Blanco
UNC chancellor says Yan was ‘beloved colleague’
Wednesday 30 August 2023 10:00 , Andrea Blanco
UNC at Chapel Hill Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement on Tuesday that he has met with the family of slain assistant professor Zajie Yan.
“[Mr Yan] was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus. My leadership team and I have met with his colleagues and family to express our condolences on behalf of our campus,” the statement read. “Please join me in thinking and praying for his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting
Wednesday 30 August 2023 09:00 , Andrea Blanco
A college campus in North Carolina woke up on Tuesday gripped by fear, grief and many unanswered questions.
Just days into the start of a new term, students and faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found themselves hunkering down inside classrooms and leaping from first floor windows as an active shooting situation unfolded on site.
Inside the science building, a faculty member was found shot dead.
Read more:
What we know about the UNC campus shooting that killed faculty member
Tailei Qi is ordered held without bond during court appearance
Wednesday 30 August 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco
Mr Qi appeared in court on Tuesday and was officially charged with the first-degree murder of his academic advisor Dr Zijie Yan.
The alleged shooter was ordered held without bail and had an interpreter explain the proceedings to him in Mandarin.
Mr Qi, a PhD student at UNC at Chapel Hill, is scheduled to appear in court again on 18 September.
2019 shooting at different UNC campus left two people dead
Wednesday 30 August 2023 07:00 , Andrea Blanco
Harrowingly, the horror was a somewhat familiar sight for the UNC community coming four years after a mass shooting at the Charlotte campus.
Back on 30 April 2019 – on the last day of the spring semester classes – two people were killed and four injured in a mass shooting inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building.
The gunman – identified as former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell – was arrested soon after.
In September 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced life without the possibility of parole.
WATCH: UNC shooting suspect arrested after one faculty member confirmed dead
Wednesday 30 August 2023 06:00 , Andrea Blanco
Authorities probe motive behind shooting
Wednesday 30 August 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco
Police were searching for both the weapon and the motive in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that left one faculty member dead and prompted an hours-long lockdown amid a search for the suspect.
The assailant in Monday afternoon’s shooting at a science building in the heart of the flagship university’s campus was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the gunfire was first reported, officials said at a news conference. Neither the suspect nor the victim were immediately identified and it wasn’t clear whether they knew each other. Formal charges were pending.
“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. Why today, why at all?” UNC Police Chief Brian James said. “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.”
