UNC-Chapel Hill grad student Tailei Qi charged with murder in shooting death of professor

A graduate student at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill was charged with murder Tuesday morning in the shooting death of a faculty member.

Tailei Qi was officially charged with first-degree murder and booked at the Orange County jail. CBS affiliate WNCN-TV reported that Qi, a graduate student, was also charged with having a weapon on educational property.

UNC Police received a 911 call about shots fired at the Caudill Labs building on campus, UNC Police Chief Brian James said at a news conference Monday evening. The building, close to the center of campus, houses a chemistry department.

Upon arrival, police discovered that a teacher had been shot and killed. The victim has not been publicly identified.

Police have not revealed a possible motive.

“To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” James said Monday. “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus.”

After the suspect was apprehended, a campus-wide lockdown that had been prompted by the shooting remained in place while police confirmed the suspect’s identity and conducted a search for the weapon, James said. 

Classes are canceled Tuesday, and non-mandatory operations are suspended, the university said in a campus alert.

This is a developing story and will be updated. Gina Martinez contributed to this report.