With the person of interest in the shooting death of a Yale graduate student still at large, federal authorities on Tuesday increased the reward for information about the man’s whereabouts.
Officials with the U.S. Marshals Service said they are now offering $10,000 for information leading to Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Qinxuan Pan. The previous reward was $5,000.
“Pan should be considered armed and dangerous,” the agency said in a statement announcing the higher reward. “Individuals should not attempt to apprehend him themselves.”
Pan, 29, of Malden, Massachusetts, is wanted for questioning in the Feb. 6 death of Kevin Jiang, 26, a second-year graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment who was fatally shot outside his car in New Haven, Connecticut.
Pan has not been charged in connection with the deadly shooting. Instead, he faces charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and interstate theft of a vehicle, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which is assisting in the search for Pan.
Authorities with the agency believe he could be staying with friends or family in suburban Atlanta. He was last seen Feb. 11 driving with family members in Brookhaven, Georgia, according to the statement. At the time, he was carrying a black backpack and acting strange, U.S. marshals said.
Investigators have previously said they are looking into whether Jiang, who was set to graduate next year and engaged to be married, was a targeted victim in a road rage incident. He was shot multiple times, according to the Associated Press.
Details about his the relationship between Jiang and Pan have not been released.
A spokesperson for MIT previously told NBC News that Pan received undergraduate degrees from the university in computer science and mathematics in June 2014 and has been enrolled as a graduate student in the electrical engineering and computer science department since September 2014.
Jiang’s fiancee graduated with a degree in biological engineering from MIT in 2020. It is not clear if she knew Pan, who is described by authorities as 6 feet and 170 pounds.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-877-926-8332.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
