Tailei Qi, a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has been charged in the fatal shooting of an associate professor, appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday.
Qi is accused of murdering Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, using a 9 mm pistol on Monday afternoon. The incident prompted a lockdown on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus as students were beginning their first week of classes.
The 34-year-old individual, originally from China, faces charges of first-degree murder and possession of a gun on educational property. In an Orange County courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, Qi appeared wearing an orange jumpsuit.