Suspect in professor’s shooting at North Carolina university bought gun, went to range, warrants say
CHAPEL HILL, NC — A University of North Carolina graduate student accused of fatally shooting his faculty advisor on campus five months ago had visited a shooting range the day before the professor was killed and bought a gun, according to federal search warrant information.
Tailei Qi, 35, was arrested in a residential neighborhood less than two hours after the Aug. 28 shooting of Zijie Yan in a laboratory building at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Qi, charged with first-degree murder and gun possession, was found unfit for trial after a judge said two mental evaluations showed he likely suffers from untreated schizophrenia. Qi was ordered to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital. His legal situation could change if his condition improves.
The contents of the search warrant made public last week reveal more details about Qi and what authorities say happened, The News & Raleigh Observer reported. An FBI agent sought warrants to search Qi’s phone, apartment and car in the days after the shooting.
The shooting resulted in an hours-long lockdown of the campus and a search for the suspect that terrified students and faculty who had just returned to the university system’s flagship campus for the start of the fall semester.
According to the arrest warrants, a witness inside Caudill Laboratories heard an argument between Qi and Yan, a professor in the Department of Applied Sciences, followed by five gunshots. Officers found Yan dead in an office area and the witness saw Qi walking by with a gun in his hand, according to the arrest warrants, which also said other witnesses identified the shooter as Qi.
Authorities found Qi about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the building. Qi denied owning a gun but said he rented one two weeks earlier and shot it at a shooting range with an instructor, the arrest warrants said.
But a search of Qi’s apartment turned up a notebook containing information that led officers to identify someone who then told authorities that he had sold a 9mm firearm a few days earlier to a man he identified in a photo as Qi, the legal documents say.
Qi’s student visa prevented him from legally possessing a firearm, the arrest warrants state. Qi’s arrest warrant from August charged him with unlawfully possessing a 9mm handgun on campus.
An employee at a shooting range in nearby Wake County said Qi visited the shooting range on Aug. 17 and 27, according to the documents. The employee also rented Qi a gun similar to the firearm he had purchased. Qi had purchased 9mm ammunition at the shooting range, the arrest warrants said, and police recovered shell casings of 9mm ammunition at the murder scene.
Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting and previously said they had not found the weapon used in the killing. The paperwork he filled out to use the range listed Qi Yan as his emergency contact, according to the search warrants.