An infectious diseases researcher at Yale University has been murdered outside of his home in what is believed to be a workplace related dispute. Vajinder Toor, a first year postdoctoral fellow in the school of medicine’s infectious diseases department, was gunned down on the morning of 26 April in Branford, Connecticut.

Multiple press reports say Lishan Wang, a 44-year-old doctor and Chinese national, has been arrested and charged with the crime. Toor worked with Wang during a previous appointment at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. In July of last year, Wang filed a discrimination suit in Federal Court against the medical centre, which included allegations that “Dr Vajinder” treated Chinese students unfairly.

The murder comes less than three months after a shooting at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, which left three biologists dead and three more wounded (Nature 463, 856; 2010).