UNC faculty member killed in shooting

A faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was fatally shot on campus on Monday afternoon, officials said, and the assailant was taken into custody after the campus community sheltered in place for hours.

Neither the suspect nor the victim were immediately identified, but police posted a picture on X, formerly Twitter, of a man and described him as a "person of interest", without providing his name.

The man was later identified through other websites as Tailei Qi, a postgraduate student in the university's applied physical sciences department.

Qi arrived at UNC in January last year, according to his LinkedIn account. Students on WeChat, who did not give their names, said he was a former student at Louisiana State University and Wuhan University in China, and was born in Henan province.

According to two students who spoke to China Daily on condition of anonymity, the victim was Zijie Yan, an associate professor who served as Qi's adviser.

Qi wrote on X on May 30, "For a PhD student, pay much attention to working time every day is really childish." He wrote that many people expect him to work and he added "that's not human at all".

"It is too early to determine the motive for the shooting," UNC Police Chief Brian James said on Monday evening. "We really want to know the 'why' in this case and what led to it."

The weapon used in the shooting has not been found, authorities said.

"I am devastated and saddened by today's shooting in one of our campus buildings, a place where we conduct our important work of teaching, mentoring and research every day," UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz told the university community. "This shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted on our campus. We will work to rebuild that trust and safety."

Gunshots were first reported at 1:02 pm in the school's Caudill Laboratories. At 1:04 pm, university members received an emergency alert about an "armed and dangerous person on or near campus".

All students, faculty and staff members were advised to shelter in place. An "all-clear" alert was issued for the campus at 4:15 pm.

Students said they were scared after receiving the alert in class, using desk chairs to block classroom entrances until police advised them to leave.

All classes and events were canceled for the rest of Monday and Tuesday, a school email said.

Agencies contributed to this story.