Two men accused of fatally shooting a pair of Chinese graduate students at the University of Southern California were charged yesterday with capital murder, making them eligible to face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said.
Engineering graduate students Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were killed on April 11th as they were sitting in a parked car outside Mr Ying’s rented home, a few blocks from the campus. Their deaths were the result of an attempted robbery gone wrong, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said, and sparked a debate over whether the university provides adequate security measures in neighbourhoods adjacent to the urban campus where many students live.
Bryan Barnes (20) and Javier Bolden (19) have been charged with capital murder during a suspected robbery. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison. – (Reuters)