NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A normally quiet New Haven neighborhood was rocked over the weekend by the City's sixth homicide since the first of the year as a recently engaged Yale graduate student was gunned down early Saturday evening and police are still working to establish a motive.
The shooting took place in the East Rock neighborhood, in the area of Lawrence and Nicoll Streets, right around 8:30 Saturday night, while Kevin Jiang was either in or near his car.
The 26-year-old graduate student, in Yale's School of Environment, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died on the scene.
"We have developed information suggesting that this incident may not have been an actual random act that he in fact was targeted," said New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes.
But police are not saying much more than that about an incident in the neighborhood in which his Jiang's fiancé lives.
"Callers (to 911) reported seeing much during that day, but we do not want to give (out) that information," Reyes continued.
Perry, also a Yale graduate student, issued the following written statement to FOX61.
"Kevin was and is a gift from God. He was a true and righteous man after God’s own heart. Life is so precious and short, and I am so thankful that God brought us together. I know that he is with his Heavenly Father now in perfect peace. I cannot wait to see him again in Heaven and the New Heaven and Earth. I believe God can bring life even out of evil death because God brought salvation to the whole world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ."
A video posted to Kevin Jiang's Facebook page captured the moment, one week before he died, that he asked Perry to be his wife.
"This is a tragedy that has hurt all of us and, in the days ahead, I hope we can focus on each other’s well-being and support one another," said Yale University President Peter Salovey.
"This is a senseless act, and we are putting every resource to bear to make sure we identify his killer," Reyes added.
The deadly shooting occurred in Goatville neighborhood, where many Yale students and employees live.
"We have offered the services are of our entire investigative unit at Yale University police to assist Chief Reyes," said Yale University Police Chief Ronnell Higgins.
Reyes says the New Haven Police Department meets with their local, state, and federal partners nearly every day to discuss violence and solutions. But there have already been six homicides in New Haven since the first of the year.
"I’m concerned not just because we’ve had so many incidents already this year but it’s winter and typically, we have much lower violent crime in winter," said Mayor Justin Elicker (D-New Haven).
NHPD has weathered many storms, including an increase in violence periodically. But Chief Reyes wants to reassure people, who do business in and/or live in New Haven that the police have their back.
"The people you see behind me here were instrumental in making the city one of the safest cities per capita after in 2011 being one of the most violent cities per capita," he emphasized.
Salovey noted how selfless Kevin Jiang was. He served in the US Army National Guard, distributed food to and cooked for a homeless shelter and even mentored youth.
This is the fifth murder of a Yale student since 1974. The last having occurred in 2009, when Annie Le, a 24-year-old Yale School of Medicine doctoral student was killed. Raymond Clark III later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 44 years in prison.
Le and Clark, both 24 at the time, worked in the Yale Animal Research Center. She performed medical experiments and he was an animal technician. Her body was discovered behind a wall in that building.