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Arrest Warrant Issued For Qinxuan Pan In Murder Of Kevin Jiang, Yale Grad Student With Chicago Ties

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBS/AP) -- Police in Connecticut have issued an arrest warrant for Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Qinxuan Pan in the murder of standout Yale University student Kevin Jiang, of Chicago.

CBS 2's Steven Graves reports Pan, 29, is believed to be staying in the Atlanta area and should be considered armed and dangerous.

The news is a step forward for Jiang's friends around Chicago, who are holding out hope.

Jiang's former teacher, Tony Colletti, is one of many in Naperville hoping for justice.

"It'll give some of us who are upset with what happened to Kevin a little bit of closure," Colletti said.

It's been three weeks of feeling helpless miles away from Connecticut, where someone murdered the Yale graduate student just blocks from campus.

On Saturday investigators in Connecticut secured a murder warrant for Pan's arrest. He'd already been named as a person of interest in the case.

He's still on the run, considered armed and dangerous, and believed to be in the Atlanta area.

Investigators said Pan was last seen carrying a backpack and acting strangely near Duluth or Brookhaven just days after Jiang was killed. Police said the murder might have stemmed from road rage.

Jiang was a 26-year-old stand-out student who just got engaged.

The Seattle native 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.

Jiang's family had lived in Chicago before moving to Seattle. He proudly showcased his Chicago roots on social media – with pictures in Chinatown and the city's most well-known spots. But he had felt a calling to Yale's School of the Environment, where the second-year master's student was conducting research on mercury levels in fish.

In the Army, he was a tank operator and a chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear officer, according to Yale.

"We can just take from time that we had with Kevin to learn how he approached life, and really just cherish every moment we have here," Colletti said.

Investigators also think Pan, who is an MIT graduate, stole a vehicle from a dealership before the murder.

The U.S. Marshals Service has announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Pan's location and arrest.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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