UNC campus shooting | Dr. Zijie Yan, was shot and killed at Caudill Labs [Video]

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — One year ago on August 28, 2023, shots were fired inside a lab building on the UNC Chapel Hill campus. A beloved professor was killed and the news shocked that community and made worldwide headlines.

The university honored the memory of associate professor Dr. Zijie Yan on Wednesday.

Chimes were heard inside the bell tower as “Hark the Sound” was played Wednesday afternoon in honor of Dr. Zijie Yan.

“He was a quiet person, but he had a wonderful, generous spirit and a generous smile that he gave to everyone,” Richard Superfine said. Superfine, who hired Yan in 2019, is still working through his grief for the loss of his beloved colleague. He was at the bell tower along with several other faculty members from the Applied Physical Sciences Department.

“I just talked with my freshman students a week ago in class and recounted Zijie to them,” Superfine said.