New Haven police have identified a person interested in the shooting death of Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang.
Jiang was shot dead on Lawrence Street on Saturday night.
Police said they were looking for Qinxuan Pan, 29, as an interested person in the case. Authorities said Pan should be considered armed and dangerous and that the public should be “extremely cautious” if they contact him.
Pan was last seen at the Best Western hotel in North Haven. His last known address is in Malden, Massachusetts, and he graduated from MIT.
New Haven police said there was an arrest warrant for Pan around his possession of a stolen vehicle in North Haven. He was not named as a suspect in the murder case at this time.
Emergency teams were called to Lawrence Street between Nicoll and Nash Streets shortly after 8:30 pm on Saturday, after receiving several calls to 911 shots and one person shot.
Yale identified the man who was shot and killed as Kevin Jiang, a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment. Jiang was set to graduate next year, the police added.
According to authorities, Jiang was operating a vehicle at the time of the shooting. Investigators are investigating whether he was involved in a vehicle accident before the shooting.
New Haven police chief Otoniel Reyes also said investigators were investigating whether Jiang was the target. He said the police had developed information that this may not have been a random act, but added that it was too early to establish any motive.
The police did not say whether Pan and Jiang already had a relationship. However, MIT has confirmed that Pan has been enrolled as a graduate student at the university since 2014. Jiang’s fiancee graduated from MIT in 2020.
Yale President Peter Salovey remembered Jiang during a news conference on Monday in New Haven. Jiang served in the National Guard, served and cooked food for the homeless shelter and wanted to use his experiences to make a positive difference in the world, according to Salovey.
Serious crime detectives at the New Haven Police Department are investigating Jiang’s death as a homicide, police said. Officials are actively working to apprehend the responsible person or persons, the school added.
Jiang’s death marks the sixth homicide in New Haven in 2021.
Anyone with information about Pan is asked to call the New Haven police at 203-946-6304 or the anonymous reporting hotline at 1-866-888-8477 (TIPS).