MIT graduate named person of interest in murder of Yale student

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 WKXA

New Haven Police DepartmentBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News

(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) — Police are searching for a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in connection with the fatal shooting of a Yale University student.

Investigators are looking to question Qinxuan Pan, 29, who has been named a person of interest in the murder of Kevin Jiang, 26, New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes announced in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Police say he is not a suspect in the case at this time. “I’m not saying he’s the shooter at this point,” Reyes said.

Pan was last seen at a Best Western hotel in North Haven, Connecticut, and is considered armed and dangerous, Reyes said.

Jiang, a former member of the Army National Guard and a Yale graduate student, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds Saturday night near the university’s campus in New Haven, police said.

He was studying at the Ivy League university’s School of the Environment and wanted to use his education to “improve the world,” Yale President Peter Salovey said during a news conference Monday.

Police are investigating whether he was targeted and whether the shooting followed a road rage incident, as Jiang was operating a vehicle at the time, Reyes said Monday.

Pan currently has a warrant out for his arrest for possession of a stolen vehicle in Massachusetts, Reyes said. Another warrant for his arrest is out in New Haven for extradition relating to that charge.

He is a graduate of MIT and has affiliations with the university, Reyes said.

Authorities did not detail how Pan is connected to the case.

ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.