U.S. Marshals in Alabama on Friday arrested the MIT researcher police believe is responsible for the February shooting death of Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang in New Haven.
Qinxuan Pan was found in the 400 block of Fairview Avenue in Montgomery and was taken into custody as a fugitive Friday morning, the marshals said. Two federal agencies, the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Middle District of Alabama, worked with the local police in Montgomery on the arrest.
“The successful apprehension of Qinxuan Pan this morning in Montgomery, Alabama, marks the culmination of countless hours of investigation and is a testament to the dedication of all the investigators involved,” Lawrence Bobnick, acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Connecticut, said. “The unwavering commitment of the men and women supporting this operation was truly remarkable. Further, this arrest exemplifies the routine selfless cooperation between the U.S. Marshals Service, with its network of nationwide fugitive task forces, and state, local, and federal law enforcement entities across multiple jurisdictions and states.”
Pan had been sought for months. Authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information as to where he was staying. They didn’t elaborate on how they learned Pan was in Montgomery.
He was last seen Feb. 11, driving with relatives in towns just northeast of Atlanta, carrying a black backpack and “acting strange,” his family told investigators.
Police didn’t say if there was a connection between Pan and Jiang or Jiang’s fiancée.
Jiang, 26, was gunned down about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 6 on Lawrence Street, not far the Yale University campus. He was found lying near his car with several gunshot wounds and pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe he may have been involved in a crash before he was shot.
A short time later, Pan had a brief encounter with North Haven police, who ended up towing his damaged car. They later discovered it was stolen but could not find Pan in North Haven.
He disappeared.
Investigators identified Pan as a “person of interest” Feb. 10 and said they believed he was in the area at the time of the murder. But they initially stopped short of identifying Pan as the suspected shooter.
On March 1, New Haven police said they had a warrant for Pan’s arrest on a charge of murder.
Jiang, a U.S. Army veteran and National Guard reservist, was a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment. Before he came to Yale, he spent two years in environmental consulting and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in environmental studies, according to the Yale School of the Environment. He attended Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois.
As a reservist, Jiang was called to duty to help with the COVID-19 crisis.
He also was active at Trinity Baptist Church, cooking and delivering food for an emergency shelter and mentoring young people.
He was planning to be married at the church.
Courant staff writer Jessika Harkay contributed to this report.
Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
