Judge rules UNC shooter Tailei Qi not guilty by reason of insanity
Tailei Qi, the former UNC graduate student who shot and killed his academic advisor Zijie Yan in August 2023, was found not guilty by reason of insanity on Friday. An Orange County judge accepted the testimony of two forensic psychiatrists who agreed that Qi suffered from untreated schizophrenia and did not understand the wrongfulness of his actions at the time of the shooting. Following the ruling, Qi was returned to involuntary commitment at Central Regional Hospital, where he will remain indefinitely under annual review. The case concluded roughly 37 months after the incident, which had shaken the university community and led to a memorial for Yan in 2025.
