Three years after the Chinese student Tailei Qi, who shot and killed his Chinese-American academic advisor Zijie Yan, was recently ruled “not guilty by reason of insanity” by a judge.
In 2023, Tailei Qi shot and killed his academic advisor Zijie Yan at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled on September 18 that Tailei Qi was not guilty due to severe mental illness that prevented him from understanding the illegality of his actions.
On August 28, 2023, Tailei Qi, a second-year Ph.D. student in Applied Physics at the Caudill Lab on campus, shot his academic advisor and associate professor Zijie Yan seven times with a 9mm handgun, resulting in his death.
Following the incident, the campus was briefly locked down. Police searched for nearly three hours and arrested him at around 2:40 pm near the campus at Williams Circle, about two miles away.
On the 29th of the same month, local authorities officially charged Tailei Qi with first-degree murder and with illegal possession of a weapon on campus.
Records from the case show that Tailei Qi exhibited symptoms of delusions, auditory hallucinations, and self-harm while in custody, and had a history of self-harm.
A psychiatric evaluation in November 2023 suggested that he may have untreated schizophrenia and was deemed unfit to stand trial. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Central Regional Hospital for treatment.
After about 30 months of treatment, in March 2026, Judge Baddour determined that he had been restored to competency.
During the hearing on September 18, two psychiatric doctors spent over ten hours evaluating Tailei Qi’s medical history and mental condition. Both agreed that he had suffered from severe mental illness for a long time, possibly since high school.
Dr. George Corvin testified that Tailei Qi believed an imaginary girlfriend was in danger and believed Zijie Yan conspired with an assassin against him.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Nicole Wolfe from the Central Regional Hospital stated that Tailei Qi’s delusions significantly affected his understanding of the shooting incident.
Orange County prosecutor Jeff Nieman emphasized in court that both prosecution and defense experts agreed: Tailei Qi knew he killed Zijie Yan but due to mental illness, could not comprehend the wrongfulness of his actions, as he believed he was protecting himself and a possibly non-existent person.
Testimony from the hearing revealed that weeks before the shooting, the victim Zijie Yan had expressed concerns to colleagues about a student struggling with severe mental illness and delusions but did not specifically mention Tailei Qi.
Prior to the incident, Tailei Qi had mentioned on social media about work pressure, bullying, and privacy invasion he was experiencing.
The verdict of not guilty means that Tailei Qi will not face criminal trial for the murder. However, he has not been released and has been sent back to Central Regional Hospital for indefinite compulsory treatment. He will undergo regular evaluations to determine if he still poses a danger to himself or others.
According to reports from Dahe Net in mainland China in 2010, Tailei Qi is from Fengqiu County in Henan Province. He achieved a high score on the Gaokao exam, along with his younger brother, who were both admitted to universities in physics departments.
Reports mentioned that Tailei Qi came from a financially struggling background, studying diligently and helping his father with farming activities, showing filial piety and maturity.
Information indicates that Tailei Qi joined Associate Professor Zijie Yan’s research group in January 2022, focusing on machine learning, light-matter interactions, and spectroscopic analysis.
Tailei Qi holds a master’s degree from Louisiana State University and a degree from Wuhan University in China. He had been studying at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for over a year.