'Beloved' UNC-Chapel Hill shooting victim Zijie Yan was father of 2: report

Police have given the all clear after the school was on lockdown.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill associate professor who was fatally shot Monday on campus was a father, according to local and global reports.

Graduate student Tailei Qi – one of two people in victim Zijie Yan's research group in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences – allegedly murdered Yan in a lab on campus with a 9 mm pistol Monday afternoon, prompting a lockdown on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus as students began their first week of classes.

Yan "was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus," UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a Tuesday statement.

"My leadership team and I have met with his colleagues and family to express our condolences on behalf of our campus. Please join me in thinking and praying for his family and loved ones during this difficult time," Guskiewicz said.

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UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor Zijie Yan "was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus," Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a Tuesday statement. (UNC-Chapel Hill)

Yan lived in the North Carolina town of Apex, well known for its safety, with his two young children, according to The News and Observer in Raleigh.

He and Qi were researching "optical approaches to precisely manipulate nanoscopic objects and create artificial material assemblies with emergent properties," according to Yan's research synopsis on UNC's website.

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Yan was originally from Jingmen, Hubei Province in Central China, and began his education at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China before coming