Authorities in Connecticut have identified a person of interest in the shooting death of a Yale University graduate student from the Chicago area.
According to authorities, Kevin Jiang, 26, was operating a vehicle when he was shot in New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday night.
While circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation, authorities are looking into whether Jiang was involved in a vehicular accident before the shooting.
New Haven police have identified 29-year-old Qinxuan Pan as a person of interest in the case. Authorities say Pan, a graduate student at MIT, was last seen at the Best Western Hotel in North Haven, and his last known address is in Malden, Massachusetts.
Authorities consider the man armed and dangerous.
Jiang was a second-year master’s student at the Yale School of Environment. He served in the U.S. Army and was a member of the Army National Guard. He also mentored youth and volunteered cooking food at a homeless shelter, Yale's president said.
Jiang spent some of his youth in Chicago, attending part of his elementary years at St. Therese Chinese Catholic School.
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"We extend our condolences to his fiancé, family and friends during this heartbreaking time," the school said in a statement. "The entire St. Therese community prays for his family, friends and the Yale community."
NBC 5 has also learned Jiang was a member of The Cornerstone Chinese Church, formerly the Chinese Bible Church of Oak Park, during high school.
His youth pastor, Mark Brunke, said by phone that Jiang went through a "difficult time," but "it was the love of the church community and some key mentors in his life that absolutely transformed his path."
Jiang spent at least three or four years as a member of the church before he and his mother moved to Seattle, according to Brunke.
Another church member and friend had just spent time with Jiang and his fiancé over the holidays.
"I tried to provide a little guidance to him as I could and support him through some of the things he was going through," Chris Pullen said. "We maintained a friendship after he moved away."
Jiang was newly engaged. His fiance, Zion Perry, told NBC 5 "Kevin was and is a gift from God. He was a true and righteous man after God’s own heart."
Jiang was set to graduate from Yale in 2022 and would have turned 27 next week.
