UNC Shooter: What was the motive of the UNC-Chapel Hill shooter?

Professor Zijie Yan was identified as the faculty casualty in the tragic shooting that shut down the UNC-Chapel Hill campus on Monday. According to a university web page, he was the academic adviser of suspect Tailei Qi.

Yan was an associate professor at the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, where he specialized in nanoscience technology.

Qi, a second-year Ph.D. student who was arrested following Monday’s shooting, has been working closely with Yan’s research group at UNC since early 2022. According to police, the event occurred in a college lab.

Yan and Qi have co-authored works on the influence of light on nanoparticles in recent years.

UNC Shooter: What was the motive of the UNC-Chapel Hill shooter?

Detectives won’t get clues into the motive until they speak with the suspect, James said. Investigators have not found the firearm that was used in the shooting and it’s not known whether it was legally obtained, James said.

No one else was injured, officials said.

“This loss is devastating and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community.

We will work to rebuild that sense of trust and safety within our community,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said.