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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate student charged with fatally shooting his adviser has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial, the Associated Press reported.
The student, 34-year-old Tailei Qi, is accused of killing associate professor Zijie Yan in a science building on the campus in August. He has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond.
According to Orange County Superior Court judge Alyson Grine, two separate psychiatric evaluations showed that Qi likely suffers from schizophrenia, which makes it difficult for him to understand the charges against him and the court proceedings—even with the help of a Mandarin interpreter.
“Qi demonstrated delusional thinking, experienced auditory hallucinations, engaged in self-harm in the detention center, showed fragmented thought processes that impeded his communication,” Judge Grine said.
She ruled that he will be committed to a regional hospital for mental health treatment. Doctors will be required to notify the authorities if Qi’s condition improves.
Yan was shot multiple times on Aug. 28 in his office in Caudill Labs. Within two hours of the attack, Chapel Hill police arrested Qi, who was a member of Yan’s research group. No gun has been recovered.
