Killer of Chinese students facing life
Print Edition
A MAN recorded confessing to killing two Chinese graduate students near the University of Southern California has been convicted of first-degree murder.
Javier Bolden, 22, was found guilty of shooting Qu Ming and Wu Ying as they sat in a parked car about 1.6 kilometers from campus on April 11, 2012.
The killings drew international interest and fueled concerns in China about the safety of students abroad. The crime spurred USC to provide more protection around campus.
Concerns surfaced again this summer when another Chinese student was killed.
Parents of the students have filed a lawsuit accusing USC of misrepresenting security at the campus, where nearly a fifth of the 38,000 students are from overseas, including 2,500 from China.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so Bolden could face life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on November 17.
Bolden, who was in a white shirt, vest and glasses, showed no emotion during Monday’s appearance. His mother, seated in a front row of the courtroom, doubled over in her seat and sobbed.
He also was convicted of attempted murder and assault with a firearm in separate shootings months earlier when two men and a woman were wounded.
Authorities said Bolden told a cellmate he shot the 23-year-old Chinese engineering students. The cellmate was a police informant and secretly recorded Bolden discussing how he and a friend had planned to steal the couple’s BMW.
Defense attorney Andrew Goldman said his client lied to the informant to appear tough.
In February, Bolden’s friend, Bryan Barnes, who also shot into the locked car, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Fathers of the two victims came from China to speak at Barnes’ sentencing, saying their son and daughter were in love and had planned to be married.
Wu Xiyong, father of Wu Ying, said her killing “shattered the dream and hope of our entire family into pieces and pushed us into the abyss of endless pain.”
This summer four teenagers were charged with murder of a USC graduate student as he walked to his apartment.
Two of the suspects were juveniles charged as adults in the slaying of Ji Xinran, 24, an engineering student from China.
He was able to make his way to his apartment despite being hit on the head.
A roommate discovered him dead hours later.
USC’s urban campus is not far from gang-plagued neighborhoods with historically high crime rates.
Since the deaths of the Chinese couple, USC has added 60 security cameras, including some license plate readers, for a total of 178 in a 4.7-square-kilometer area that includes blocks off campus.
The university also deploys private security officers in the adjacent neighborhoods.
In addition, the Los Angeles Police Department has assigned about 30 more officers to the university community since 2012.
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