Yale Student Fatally Shot ‘5 or 6’ Times May Have Been Targeted, Police Say

February 9, 2021

Yale grad student Kevin Jiang may have been targeted for death instead of being killed in a random act of road rage, police said.

Jiang, 26, was a graduate student at the Yale School of Environment. He was shot to death over the weekend in New Haven, as NextShark previously reported.

Jiang was found dead on the scene. Some neighbors reported hearing gunshots, while others reported seeing a shiny black vehicle flee the area.

“We couldn’t see anything. But we heard the shots. Like five or six. They sound so close,” one resident told the New Haven Independent.

At a press conference, Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said the police are looking into whether or not Jiang was targeted, according to the New Haven Register.

“We have developed information that the incident may not have been a random act, that he was in effect targeted,” Reyes said. “This was not, sort of, a drive-by. It seems like it was much more up-close.”

Reyes also added that it is too early to speculate about the motive of the killing. The police are still looking for Jiang’s killer.

Chief Medical Examiner James Gill revealed that Jiang suffered from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso and extremities.

Originally from Chicago, Jiang was a U.S. Army veteran and a graduate from the University of Washington. He was also a volunteer at the Trinity Baptist Church, where he was expecting to get married, Co-Pastor Greg Hendrickson wrote on Facebook.

“Earlier this week, I had agreed to officiate Kevin’s wedding. Now, we will be officiating his funeral instead. As a community, we are grieving deeply right now,” Hendrickson said. “Though his earthly life was cut short, he used the time that he had on earth to the fullest. His example inspires us to do the same.”

His fiancée, Zion Perry, told the New Haven Register that Jiang was “a gift from God.”

Featured Images via Kevin Jiang

Share this Article