NC to pay UNC professor’s family to settle wrongful death claim for campus killing
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- State settles wrongful death claim for $750K with UNC professor’s family
- Student with schizophrenia who had threatened professor before is charged in death.
- Shooting exposed campus safety gaps and lack of emergency training at UNC
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UNC Shooting
UNC professor Zijie Yan was fatally shot Aug. 28, 2023, in Chapel Hill, NC,, prompting an hourslong lockdown and questions about campus security. Yan’s graduate student has been charged with his murder. Here is ongoing News & Observer coverage about the killing, the campus response and the aftermath.
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The state of North Carolina has agreed to a $750,000 settlement to a wrongful death claim filed by the wife and children of a UNC-Chapel Hill physics professor who was murdered in his office in 2023.
The complaint said UNC bore some responsibility for Zijie Yan’s death, alleging he “was killed by a UNC Student who suffered from a variety of severe mental illnesses, including Schizophrenia and who had threatened Professor Yan on several occasions.”
Yan was shot at around 1 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2023, the start of the second week of fall semester classes. The shooting prompted a three-hour lockdown on campus while authorities searched and arrested graduate student Tailei Qi, who worked in Yan’s lab.
The tragedy shocked the UNC community and exposed deficiencies in campus safety procedures, including insufficient locks in some classrooms and a lack of emergency training that an internal campus audit had recommended for faculty, staff and students.
The state Attorney General’s Office and the UNC System Board of Governors approved the settlement, UNC spokesperson Kevin Best confirmed.
“The settlement is intended to provide financial support to help care for Dr. Yan’s children following the tragic loss of their father,” Best said.
Yan shot multiple time, campus put on lockdown
On the afternoon of Aug. 28, 2023, graduate student Tailei Qi brought a 9 mm pistol to UNC’s Caudill Laboratories and shot Yan multiple times, federal search warrants allege.
A witness heard Qi and Yan arguing and then five gunshots, before seeing Qi walk by the labs with a gun in his hand, the warrants state. Both men were part of the same research team in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, where Yan was an associate professor.
Police took Qi into custody in an off-campus neighborhood after the shooting. They believe he bought the gun the day before the shooting and then ran on foot from campus afterward.
Qi was charged with first-degree murder and misdemeanor possessing a firearm on educational property.
Three months after the shooting, he was declared unfit for trial due to untreated schizophrenia and committed to Central Regional Hospital for mental health treatment. While in detention, The N&O previously reported, Qi demonstrated delusional thinking, experienced auditory hallucinations and paranoia, engaged in self-harm while in detention and showed behavior consistent with severe mental illness.
Hospital doctors are required to notify the district attorney if Qi is deemed competent to stand trial and court proceedings would continue, The N&O reported.
Children to receive payouts over time
Not long after the killing, Yan’s family filed a workers’ compensation claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission, said Kevin Bunn, who represented Yan’s children as a guardian at litem in the claims. The Industrial Commission handles workers compensation and tort claims, including those filed by people injured due to negligent acts by state employees.
During the process, the parties agreed to enter into a settlement, but sought to do it under a state torts claim.
That resulted in Shuting Wang, Yan’s wife and administrator of his estate, filing a tort claim against UNC-Chapel Hill, its employees and contractors on April 17. It asked for $1 million “by reason of the negligent conduct,” according to documents obtained by The News & Observer. Similar claims were filed on April 22 on behalf of Yan’s two minor children.
Under state law, $1 million is the maximum amount the state may pay on Industrial Commission tort claims related to one incident.
By April 24, Wang signed a settlement, which includes a $200,000 payment to Wang. The state also agreed to put a total of $400,000 into two annuity accounts for Yan’s children that would be paid out over time. The settlement also included two $75,000 payments to two attorneys.
The agreement called for Wang and her children to file voluntary dismissals of the claims within 15 days of the receipt of money, which occurred on June 26.
“Plaintiffs understand that this release is made as compromise of a disputed claim to avoid expense and to terminate all controversy and/or claims for damages of whatever nature, known or unknown,” the settlement agreement states.
No state funds will be used to pay the settlement, Best said. Instead, UNC will use “institutional funds,” money from private sources, he said.
The Board of Governors must approve all university settlements of $75,000 or more, per UNC System policy.
A promising researcher, safety shortfalls
Yan joined the UNC faculty in 2019. His research used lasers to manipulate matter at the nanoscale, a billionth of a meter. It was science that one day might have had biomedical applications, according to UNC. Weeks before the shooting, the university had promoted Yan’s work on “optical tweezers.”
“His colleagues and students remember him as a kind, thoughtful and deeply dedicated teacher,” Best said.
At the time of Yan’s killing, the university did not require faculty, staff or students to participate in active-shooter training. That was despite a 2020 audit recommending the university require it, N&O reporting revealed.
Settlement documents obtained by The N&O indicate that an attorney for Yan’s children reviewed an article about “active training for staff/students” as part of his work on the case.
Prior to the start of last school year, campus officials informed faculty that they would now be expected to complete emergency training.
Staff reporter David Raynor contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM with the headline "NC to pay UNC professor’s family to settle wrongful death claim for campus killing."
