NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NewsNation Now) — Police are looking for a 29-year-old Massachusetts man as a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a Yale graduate student last weekend in Connecticut, authorities said Wednesday.
The person sought for questioning in the case, Qinxuan Pan, should be considered armed and dangerous, New Haven police chief Otoniel Reyes said at a news conference. Pan’s last known address is in Malden, Massachusetts, and he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced Thursday that it is offering a $5,000 reward for information directly leading to his arrest.
“The North Haven Police Department came in contact with Mr. Pan soon after the homicide,” Reyes said. “He’s currently a person of interest in our investigation, but I want to make sure you know he’s not wanted on that homicide.”
Pan is a person of interest in Jiang’s slaying. “He is not a suspect at this time,” Reyes said.
Kevin Jiang, 26, a student of Yale’s School of the Environment, was shot multiple times and found lying outside his car on a New Haven street on Saturday night. Police have said they are looking into whether he was killed in a road rage incident following a car crash.
Jiang, a Seattle native, had recently gotten engaged to be married. He earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies at the University of Washington and was an Army veteran and Army National Guard member, according to his LinkedIn page and Yale officials. In the Army, he was a tank operator and a chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear officer, according to Yale.
There are currently two warrants out for Pan’s arrest, reported NewsNation affiliate WTNH. One is in Massachusetts for possession of a stolen vehicle he reportedly stole from that state. Another warrant is out for his arrest in New Haven for extradition for possession of the stolen vehicle he possessed in North Haven, Reyes explained.
Pan is descripted as 6′ tall, 170 lb. Asian male with a medium complexion and short black hair.
He is a known graduate of MIT and has affiliations with that university, police said. Jiang’s fiancée, Zion Perry, is also a graduate of MIT. Police said they are exploring every angle of this investigation but are not prepared yet to say whether that connection is relevant to the investigation.
“We are not ruling out that he’s still in Connecticut, but we are exploring leads that he’s somewhere else nationwide,” Chief Reyes added.
A public phone listing for Pan could not be found.
Pan was last seen at a Best Western hotel in North Haven, Connecticut, and is believed to be out of state, police said.
The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate WTNH contributed to this article.