Faculty member killed in campus shooting at UNC-Chapel Hill

A graduate student allegedly shot and killed a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill Monday afternoon, according to university officials and police, locking down the campus for several hours.

The suspect, Tailei Qi, a graduate student in applied physical sciences, was taken into custody Monday afternoon. Formal charges are pending, police said at a press conference Monday evening.

University officials and police did not identify the deceased faculty member as they worked to notify their family.

Police have not pinpointed a motive, but Qi’s Twitter posts expressed frustration, stress and depression. This year and last, he made a series of vague posts about conflict with other students and his “PI” or principal investigator, usually a faculty member assigned by the university to work with students on research projects.

It is not clear whether that PI is the faculty member who was killed.