University of North Carolina Grad Student Charged With Murder In Killing Of Faculty Advisor

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Authorities have charged a University of North Carolina graduate student 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.

Thirty-four-year-old Tailei Qi is due in court later Tuesday for an initial hearing in the Monday killing of Zijie Yan inside a science building on the Chapel Hill campus.

In addition to the murder count, he is charged with having a gun on educational property.

Yan is listed on the school’s website as an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, while Qi is listed as a graduate student in Yan’s research group.