UNC shooting updates: Students demand gun control with powerful newspaper front page after Chapel Hill attack
Student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel marked the tragedy with a powerful front page featuring the terrified text messages sent during the shooting
Students at the University of North Carolina are demanding action on gun control in the wake of Monday’s deadly Chapel Hill campus shooting.
Around 600 students took part in a rally on Wednesday calling for stricter state gun laws and holding a moment of silence for slain professor Zijie Yan.
The student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel marked the tragedy with a powerful front page on Wednesday, featuring the terrified text messages sent by loved ones to its editor-in-chief during the active situation. The page has gone viral.
Many questions still remain about suspect Tailei Qi’s motive for the attack as the search for the gun continues.
Mr Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences, had complained about the victim online in the lead-up to the attack and railed against hard work, “girls and tattletales” and bullies in the US.
He was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriff’s Office jail on a first-degree murder charge for fatally shooting Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences.
He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member
The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled about his head of lab.
“Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one post in August 2022.
But – despite the complaints – the messages could not prepare anyone for the horror of what happened next.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
What we know about UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi
Vigils held on campus following shooting that left one faculty member dead
UNC student newspaper features powerful front page after shooting
The University of North Carolina’s student newspaper front page has featured the dramatic text messages sent and received by students while they hunkered down in lecture halls and dorms as police hunted for a shooter.
Students and faculty members were in the dark for more than three hours as FBI, ATF, SWAT teams and university police searched for a gunman later identified as PhD student Tailei Qi.
The Daily Tar Heel’s powerful cover on Wednesday came together as the UNC at Chapel Hill continued to reel from the terrifying lockdown on Monday and the loss of assistant professor Zijie Yan.
The DTH’s print managing editor Caitlyn Yaede told The Independent that she had become emotional as she typed the heartwrenching messages on the front page.
“I’m in class, everyone is losing it,” “Are you safe? Where are you?” or “Come on sweetheart - I need to hear from you” were only a few of the dozens of texts included.
They were penned by distressed students barricading in classrooms or frantic parents trying to get ahold of them — the reflection of a harsh reality that is, unfortunately, too familiar for Americans.
“I’d like to say the first thing I did was jump on the breaking news story but the first thing I did was [also] calling my sister because she is a sophomore here at UNC and I had no idea where she was,” Ms Yaede said, adding that her sibling was eventually able to communicate with her and tell her she was sheltering in place in her dorm.
“One of the [messages] was, ‘I wish I could come and get you right now,” and my mom said that to me ... on Monday when this was happening and she was two hours away.”
District attorney will not seek death penalty for Qi
The district attorney will reportedly not seek the death penalty for Tailei Qi – the suspected gunman charged with fatally shooting a UNC professor on campus.
Mr Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of associate professor Zijie Yan, and with possessing a 9mm pistol on campus.
District attorney Jeff Nieman said he would not seek the death penalty against Mr Qi, according to News&Observer.
Mr Nieman said an eyewitness led law enforcement officers to Mr Qi in a neighbourhood off campus after a 911 caller had reported shots fired inside Caudill Labs.
A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting
Tailei Qi shared several cryptic posts online after joining the University of North Carolina in 2022.
The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled about his head of lab.
What we know about UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi
911 caller gave authorities alleged gunman’s name moments after the attack
A 911 call obtained by The News & Observer detailed the horror following an attack inside UNC’s Caudil Laboratories that left 38-year-old applied sciences assistant professor Zijie Yan dead.
When asked if they knew the shooter, the caller said: “I do ... I know exactly who it is.”
“I know who the student is. His name is Tailei Qi and he has a gun and he’s on campus.”
The caller then said that they had seen the shooter leaving the scene and that he had used a short gun.
Mr Qi was charged with Yan’s murder.
Yan was the head of his department and also Mr Qi’s academic advisor.