Tailei Qi, the UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student accused of killing physics professor Zijie Yan in August 2023, will move forward with an insanity plea to first-degree murder, according to Orange County prosecutors. The decision follows a long stretch of legal limbo that has featured multiple psychiatric evaluations, a lengthy hospital commitment and a high-profile financial settlement for Yan's family.
Orange County prosecutor Dana Graves told reporters that Qi plans to plead insanity, and court records show he is set for another competency evaluation at Central Regional Hospital on June 16, 2026, according to The News & Observer. The outlet also reports that judges ordered Qi committed to Central Regional Hospital in November 2023 after earlier findings that he was not capable of proceeding in court.
The shooting happened on Aug. 28, 2023, inside Caudill Laboratories on the UNC campus. Yan was shot multiple times, and the university went into an hours-long lockdown, AP reported. Authorities arrested Qi nearby within about two hours of the gunfire, but investigators say the 9mm handgun used in the killing has never been found, according to ABC11.
Two separate psychiatric evaluations in 2023 concluded that Qi likely suffers from untreated schizophrenia, and a judge ruled in November that he was unfit to stand trial, ordering him committed for treatment, WUNC reported. Doctors at Central Regional Hospital must alert the district attorney if they determine Qi has become competent, which would allow the criminal case to resume in court.
Prosecutors now say that more recent evaluations have found Qi able to move forward, and Graves has told the press that he is expected to plead insanity instead of entering a standard guilty or not guilty plea, according to The News & Observer. That strategy would push much of the coming fight into psychiatric evidence and legal arguments over criminal responsibility rather than a conventional jury trial focused only on guilt.
What an insanity plea means under North Carolina law
Under North Carolina law, a defendant who plans to claim insanity has to file formal notice, and juries can return verdicts that include "not guilty by reason of insanity" or "guilty but mentally ill." State statutes spell out how civil commitment, treatment and possible release work if a court accepts an insanity-based verdict, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. Those rules set the framework for what would happen to Qi if he is found legally insane or mentally ill at the time of the shooting.
Aftermath, campus changes and settlement
Yan's killing prompted UNC officials to revisit how the campus prepares for emergencies. The university has directed faculty to complete emergency training before the start of the 2024 fall semester and has adjusted its emergency response protocols, WUNC reports. In July 2025, the university and state officials approved a settlement of roughly $750,000 with Yan's family, according to WRAL.
Qi faces a possible life sentence if he is convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty, and both the district attorney's office and defense lawyers are expected to update the court schedule after the June 16 reevaluation at Central Regional Hospital, AP notes. For now, the case sits at the intersection of medical reports and legal maneuvering that could stretch on in hospitals and courtrooms for months.
