CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — Nearly nine months after a UNC-Chapel Hill professor was shot and killed on campus, the University has released an After-Action Report recommending future safety and mental health guidelines.
The report and the research efforts to create it stem from the shooting that took place on Aug. 28, 2023. At 1:02 p.m. that day, UNC’s campus police were notified of a shots fired report at Caudill Laboratories. Two minutes later, Alert Carolina sirens began to sound, and campus members were advised via email and text messages to shelter inside.
Dr. Zijie Yan was pronounced deceased. Police later identified graduate student Tailei Qui as the suspect.
He was taken into custody at 2:38 p.m. and was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon on educational property. UNC Police issued an “all clear” to campus at 4:15 p.m.
Following the shooting, classes were canceled through Aug. 30. Following the incident, UNC invited students, faculty, staff, families and other members of the Carolina community to share feedback of the University’s response through a portal.
In the report released Thursday, six themes were identified that can help the university prioritize and strengthen campus safety.
The themes include preparedness and planning by offering active assailant training, public safety response and incident management, emergency coordination and information sharing, public information and communications, campus counseling and behavioral health services, and safety and risk management.
An independent contractor used several methods to perform the review, including:
- Conducting 31 interviews with over 70 individuals across campus and the local community to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the incident.
- Reviewing the responses to the feedback portal that was open to the Carolina campus community, including students, faculty, staff and parents and families.
- Reviewing existing policies, procedures, guidelines and standards in place at the time of the incident, including the Emergency Policy and Crisis Communications plan.
- Providing a comparison to real-world application to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the University’s response and to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
- Comparing national standards and similar instances in higher education to benchmark the University’s performance and identifying industry norms, emerging practices and coordination expectations.
Within the next year, UNC Police will host a multi-agency exercise drill to test response protocols and capabilities for responding to an active threat on campus.
UNC said Emergency Management will develop written guidelines on the roles of policy and coordination personnel along with training on the applications of those roles during emergencies.
University Communications and Emergency Management will work to improve language for Alert Carolina messages and opportunities to provide more frequent updates during an incident on campus.
UNC said Emergency Management will work with the Office of human resources and Student Affairs to coordinate counseling services into the University’s Emergency Operations Plan during the next update.
The University has developed a working group tasked to identify, acquire and implement an integrated camera management system policy.