‘Forced to relive the grief of a gunman on my campus’: Traumatized student who survived Parkland school massacre is now caught up in UNC mass shooting where postgrad Tailei Qi ‘killed’ his professor Zijie Yan

• Bella Miller was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018
• She studies at University North Carolina where professor was shot dead Monday

A University of North Carolina student who survived the Parkland School massacre in 2017 has told of her pain after her place of study played host to yet another shooting. 

Bella Miller, a student athlete at UNC, was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February 2018 when former pupil Nikolas Cruz slaughtered 17 children and teachers in one of America’s deadliest high school shootings.

She went on to pursue higher education and athletics at Michigan State University as a gymnast, before announcing in 2021 that she had transferred to UNC to join their athletic roster. 

But Bella is now forced to come to terms with another shooting on her school campus after fellow UNC student Tailei Qi was charged with the first degree murder of his academic advisor, Zijie Yan.

The 34-year-old grad student was studying for his PhD before the alleged murder on Monday that forced fellow UNC students to leap out of classroom windows to avoid the bullets.

‘Is this really happening to me again? During my freshman year of HS, my Parkland community lost 17 angels,’ Bella wrote on social media site X.

‘Today, I am having to relive the grief and unease of a shooter on my campus once again. My heart goes out to my Chapel Hill family today. I know how hard these times can be.’

It is unclear whether Miller was present on campus in Parkland or UNC at the time of the shootings.  

Bella Miller, a student athlete at UNC, was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February 2018

‘Is this really happening to me again? During my freshman year of HS, my Parkland community lost 17 angels,’ Bella wrote on social media site X

During a brief hearing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sherri Murrell ordered Qi to be held without bond, as an interpreter relayed the judge’s remarks to him in Mandarin

Professor Zijie Yan (pictured) was shot dead by postgrad student Tailei Qi

Video taken at the scene shows students jumping from windows at the university as the shooting unfolded

In this frame grab from video provided by WPLG-TV, students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., evacuate the school following a shooting, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 

Qi made his first court appearance on Tuesday, and faces charges of first-degree murder and felony possession of a weapon on campus in the slaying of physics professor Yan.

During a brief hearing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sherri Murrell ordered Qi to be held without bond, as an interpreter relayed the judge’s remarks to him in Mandarin.

When the hearing ended, Qi bowed to his interpreter, his attorney and the guards before they took him away in handcuffs. Dana Graves, a public defender who represented Qi at the hearing, left the courtroom without talking to reporters.

Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman will not seek the death penalty for Qi, after vowing not to seek execution for any defendants when running for office two years ago. 

Qi’s next court date has been set for September 18. 

Authorities haven’t publicly discussed a possible motive for the attack, which unfolded on Monday afternoon in a campus lab. 

The victim, Yan, was an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences who had worked at the school since 2019. He was shot dead in Caudill Labs. 

The attack led to a roughly three-hour lockdown of the campus, just a week after students returned for the start of the fall semester. 

Flowers, candles and mementos sit outside one of the makeshift memorials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 27, 2018

Tailei Qi, 34, made his first court appearance on Tuesday, and faces charges of first-degree murder and felony possession of a weapon on campus

Nikolas Cruz, 24, is seen amid sentencing for Parkland school shooting

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a message to the campus community his team had met with Yan’s colleagues and family to express condolences on behalf of the campus.

‘He was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus,’ Guskiewicz said.

In a page that has been taken down since the attack, Qi was listed on the school’s website as a graduate student in Yan’s research group and Yan was listed as his adviser. 

He previously studied at Wuhan University in China before moving to the US and earning a masters in mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Parkland school shooting was re-enacted earlier this month.

As many as 140 live rounds of bullets were fired into a ballistic trap inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday, mimicking killer Cruz’s movements on February 14, 2018, when 17 students and teachers were killed

It’s all part of a civil lawsuit brought by several of the victims’ families and one survivor against former Broward sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson, who was found not guilty of child neglect in June over his actions during the shooting.

Prosecutors had accused him of ignoring his training and failing to confront the shooter while taking cover outside the building as children were shot dead.

Peterson claimed he did not enter the building because he couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from. 

Nine members of Congress and others enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Parkland, Fla.

The group toured the blood-stained and bullet-pocked halls, shortly before ballistics technicians reenacted the massacre that left 14 students and three staff members dead in 2018

The reenactment is part of a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families against former Deputy Scot Peterson and the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Scot Peterson, who is being accused of negligence, claimed he did not enter the building because he couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from

The reenactment will mimic the killer’s movements on February 14, 2018, when 17 students and teachers were killed in the deadliest US high school shooting

Prosecutors had accused Peterson of ignoring his training and failing to confront the shooter while taking cover outside the building as children were shot dead

Those behind the lawsuit hope the re-enactment will prove Peterson heard ‘upwards of 70 shots and knew where they were coming from,’ attorney David Brill said in court, as reported by CNN.

‘Residents should be advised that the simulation will include gunfire that will be heard as far as a mile or more from the school,’ the city of Parkland said prior to the re-enactment.

Max Schachter, who lost his son Alex in the tragedy, told the Miami Herald the reeneacment brings the affected families closer to justice.

‘I’m going to come to the school to witness the re-enactment and it’s going to be really hard because I’ve never heard gunshots from an AR-15 with a .223 round, which is armor piercing,’ said Schachter prior to the tour. 

‘It’s going to be scary, especially knowing that these are the gunshots that Alex heard and how scared he would have been. But we hope that it will prove to the civil case against the deputy that there’s no possible way that he didn’t hear these gunshots.’

Last month, Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips granted the request of the families of victims Luke Hoyer, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Alex Schachter, and survivor Madeline Wilford to conduct the re-enactment. 

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