“Everybody was in shock,” student Noel Harris tells Inside Edition.
Students from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill had to act quick yesterday after word spread that there was an active shooter on campus.
Tailei Qi made his first court appearance today and was charged with murder after shooting and killing a faculty member at the university, which sent the campus into lockdown.
Videos have been posted showing students reacting to the lockdown, some even climbing out windows to try and get to a safe space away from the shooter.
“I was with a lot of journalists who knew to pull up police scanners and look at the news and turn on the live streams,” journalism student Noel Harris tells Inside Edition. “Everybody was in shock.”
One student was taking a video of the campus when the first alarm went off, saying “Attention. Armed dangerous person. Go inside.”
While some students climbed out windows or got off campus, others were forced to lock themselves in and take shelter to wait while police looked for the suspect.
As police searched, a news alert went out to students with the picture of Qi, a Ph.D student in Physics, warning them to stay away from him and to call 911 if they see him.
The Ph.D student was later arrested off-campus but not before he allegedly killed his academic advisor, Professor Zijie Yan, while he was in his lab. Yan was the only fatality in the shooting.
Qi has not entered plea yet and was given no bond during his initial court appearance and is expected to have his next court date on Sept. 18.
