From stellar student in China to US campus shooter

The University of North Carolina graduate student, who has been charged in the fatal Monday shooting of a professor at the school's Chapel Hill campus, is 34-year-old Qi Tailei from China.

Qi was charged with first-degree murder and carrying a gun on an educational campus in the killing of Yan Zijie, an associate professor in applied physical sciences at the school since 2019, court records show.

In paying tributes to the slain Chinese teacher, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a press briefing on Tuesday that Yan was the father of two young children and a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on campus.

Qi had to sit China's college entrance exam twice before he was accepted by Wuhan University in 2010. That year his brother, who was his junior by two years, was also admitted to Xi'an Jiaotong University, by scoring exactly the same score as his brother, at 624. The score was fourth highest that year in Fengqiu County, Henan Province. College matriculation in Henan has been widely viewed as one of the most competitive in China.

In a picture that accompanied a report on the brothers' stellar performance in the local Dahe Daily that year, the two brothers were shown beaming broadly, holding their letters of acceptance.

The report mentioned that the only source of income for the family was their 6 mu (0.4 hectares) of farm field.

The brothers' bedroom was described as basic: "Two beds, two desks, and a simple electric fan dangling from a stick."

There were reports that Qi was able to finish university with financial assistance provided by someone.

It seemed strange then that in subsequent social media posts while in the United States Qi seemed to be against minimum wages.

It is not known why it took him five years, rather than the usual four, to graduate from Wuhan University, with a BSc in physics and a minor in business administration and management.

When he graduated from Wuhan University in 2015, Qi worked from 2015 to 2017 at the Suzhou Advanced Materials Research Institute, a small private entity launched in 2011 aimed at "industrial use of materials and power equipment by adopting innovative business management modes."

He was a research assistant at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, from 2017-19, where a paper Qi published might have helped with his application to a PhD program at Louisiana State University, where Qi studied from 2019-2022.

For reasons unknown, he was awarded only a master's degree in material science after three years, and then began to study as a doctoral candidate in applied physical sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, under Yan, from January 2022.

Although police have not pinpointed a motive for the shooting yet, Qi's Twitter posts indicate his frustration, stress and depression in recent years.

Since last year, Qi had made a series of vague posts about conflicts with other students and his "PI," or principal investigator, usually a faculty member assigned by the university to work with students on research projects.

In a post he wrote: "60+ hours per week and I feel tired. Just because I spend too much time to persuade myself that I work just out of interest instead of to show others I am working."

In a post on August 1, reportedly his last, Qi wrote: "Would like to make some new friends. I am a second-year PhD student, interested in nanoparticle synthesis .... a bit stupid in daily trifles, very enthusiastic talking about research. Reach me if interested."

Both of Qi's parents died in the past three years, and he was unable to return home for their funeral.