CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA: Zijie Yan, a UNC faculty member and associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, was identified as the victim of a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday.
Not only that, Yan was also an academic advisor to Tailei Qi, who was charged with his first-degree murder on Tuesday.
The duo worked closely with Yan's research group at the university since 2022 as per WRAL.
When did Zijie Yan join UNC and where was he killed?
Yan, who joined UNC in 2019, was killed inside the campus lab by Qi. Yan was a leading researcher in nanoscience and nanotechnology, especially in the field of optical binding and "optical tweezers."
He collaborated with Qi on several papers, including one published last month on LinkedIn.
Yan’s work aimed to develop advanced nanorobots that could manipulate cells using light.
Yan obtained his PhD in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Before joining UNC as a faculty, he was an assistant professor at Clarkson University after postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago, as per the UNC website.
Why did Tailei Qi kill his academic advisor Zijie Yan?
The motive behind the shooting is still under investigation, but it has shaken the UNC community and raised questions about campus safety and security.
UNC Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement: “This loss is devastating and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community."
The statement continued, "We will work to rebuild that sense of trust and safety within our community and our hearts are with the family of our fellow faculty member, those who are personally connected to the victim and those traumatized by this senseless act of violence.”
UNC police Brian James said they are figuring out the motive and why this happened.
"To actually have the suspect in custody, it gives us an opportunity to either figure out the why and even the how and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today," James said, as per the report.
How was Tailei Qi caught?
Tailei Qi was seen sitting on the floor wearing a dark shirt and glasses at least a mile away from the crime scene.
The shooting reportedly occurred around 3.30 pm on Monday at the Hanes Art Center, near the school’s iconic Bell Tower and the student bookstore.
The campus was locked down for about an hour and a half until Qi was arrested.
Qi holds a master's degree from Louisiana State University and a degree from Wuhan University in China.
Aiden Scott, a UNC graduate student told WRAL, "I would have never guessed that he would be the kind of person who could possibly be capable of this kind of thing."
Scott, who is also a former classmate of Qi and worked on a project with him, said, "He was always very quiet."
"Every single time he would talk to me, he seemed very nice,” Scott added. “When I saw his face in the reports online, I was beyond shocked."
