Two graduate students shot dead
Two graduate students were fatally shot early Wednesday morning in a car in front of a residence on Raymond Avenue near 27th Street.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the scene in the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue shortly after 1 a.m., where one female, 23-year-old Ying Wu, and one male, 23-year-old Ming Qu, were found shot.
Wu and Qu were transported to California Hospital Medical Center in Downtown Los Angeles where they were pronounced dead.
Investigation · Dept. of Public Safety and Los Angeles Police Dept. officers respond to the crime scene of the murder of two USC graduate students on 2700 block of Raymond Avenue on Wednesday. - Chloe Stepney | Daily Trojan
Officers found Wu inside a late-model BMW 3-Series and Qu outside of the vehicle.
At some point after being shot, Qu fled from the car toward a nearby house to seek help, LAPD Cdr. Andrew Smith said.
LAPD said the suspect at large is male. No other details or descriptions have been provided about the suspect.
There are no yellow-jacketed security ambassadors patrolling the area near the crime scene.
Dept. of Public Safety Capt. David Carlisle said two video patrol cameras and two license plate recognition cameras are stationed in the area, but not directly on Raymond Avenue. DPS turned over all camera footage to LAPD.
“We are saddened and outraged at this horrific act,” Denzil Suite, associate vice president for student affairs, said in a statement. “I encourage us to pull together as a community for support and comfort during this difficult time.”
Wu and Qu were both studying electrical engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering.
A member of Justice for Murdered Children, a San Pedro organization that provides outreach to the families of homicide victims, adds to the memorial on Raymond Avenue, where two students were fatally shot. - Carlo Acenas | Daily Trojan
“As a dean and professor but also as a Viterbi parent, this news hits me very deeply,” Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos said in a statement. “On behalf of the school, I want to express my strongest sympathies to the families of the victims, all our students, faculty and staff and the university community. I know that the entire Viterbi community, around the world, has been shaken by the news.”
Michael L. Jackson, vice president for student affairs, and Todd Dickey, senior vice president of administration, released a joint statement to the USC community Wednesday.
“Our community is saddened and outraged by this callous and meaningless act, Jackson and Dickey said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims’ families and friends and all who knew them at USC.”
Mourners placed flowers in front of Wu’s house on Raymond Avenue throughout the day and gathered for a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at Tommy Trojan.
In response to the murders, Carlisle said more officers will patrol the area where the shooting occurred. Per DPS Chief Carey Drayton’s orders, a “public safety kiosk” was placed at the intersection of 27th Street and Raymond Avenue, where officers will be stationed and surveillance footage will be taken.
Suite said the university has contacted Wu and Qu’s families and offered full resources should they wish to travel to Los Angeles.
“They’ll have to make some determinations whether that is feasible for them, but we’ve let them know that whatever they want to do, we will help them in that endeavor,” Suite said.
Those seeking counseling or other support can call Student Affairs at (213) 740-2421 or Student Counseling Services at (213) 740-7711.
Those with information on the shooting are asked to call Southwest Area Homicide investigators at (213) 485-2417.
Are some of you slow or just dumb? There is not racial injustice and no one was arrested because we don’t know who did it. Most likely if someone black did it, they would be arrested. In the trayvon martin case, a man, with a gun, with a history of violence, and vendetta for black males or “assholes, or coon” oh I mean punks, killed a kid minding his business with skittles and ice tea. I don’t care if the boy was kicked out 20 times and wore his pants sagging he didn’t deserve to be killed minding his business. You guys are evil hypocrites, if it was your loved one how would u feel? Today is history regarding va tech, that dude was asian and killed several of all races, what about serial killers and child molesters? They kill and harm many, where’s your disgust and outrage. Maybe if they were profiled or even paid attention to instead of all emphasis on blacks we can get a better handle on all this!
This tragedy should be a wakeup call to USC leaders who do far too little to protect the lives of innocent students. The university should either sell its property and move to a safer part of LA or
else it should buy up more land in the ghetto surrounding USC and build adequate and affordable
housing for USC undergraduate and graduate students. If these dead graduate students had been
offered the option of living in a safe and affordable graduate student high-rise or apartment complex owned
by USC, they would probably be alive today. How much land does USC own on Catalina
Island? Perhaps a large chunk of its programs can move there and safe student
housing can be made available on the island. If USC really must remain in the ghetto, then why isn’t the school building a high quality graduate student high-rise directly across the street from campus? USC’s reputation depends largely on the quality of the graduate students it attracts from all over the world. If USC does not act immediately and decisively to prevent another senseless tragedy like this, the global pipelines it relies on for top graduate students will never again work so well.
@mark cruz how do you know the killer is possibly black, where you there, did you see the killer. upon what do you base your assumption. I am saddened by this killing and yes it deserves the same outrage and media coverage that the Trayvon Martin case received. why don’t you Mark, and your fellow students start a petition, set up a reward for any information that could lead to the identification of the killer, and demonstrate and continue demonstrating until the authorities do something. contact your Asian political figures and light a fire under them to start asking questions. Call Fox News, CNN, ABC news, CBS news and make them pay attention. blog about it, start making noise on facebook, do whatever is within YOUR POWER to get the word out about this murder. This is a terrible tragedy and the slain Asian students deserve justice. but it is wrong for people to compare this to the Trayvon Martin case, the two cases have NOTHING IN COMMON! DON’T BE STUPID AND IGNORANT! don’t start speculating and spreading rumors that the killer is possibly black when YOU DON’T KNOW THAT TO BE TRUE. TO DO THAT IS THE HEIGHT OF IRRESPONSIBILITY, AND DARE I SAY IT RACIST.
Statistically speaking, we know very well that a certain class of people are (substantially) more likely to commit crimes than others. Of course, one does not yet know the racial background of the killer. That is why he QUALIFIED his statement with ‘possibly’. And he would not be too off the mark, if ESTABLISHED STATISTICAL FACTS are anything to go by.
This looks to be a nice area of West Adams from the photo.
I wonder if two students that are not international students but white, American born, living on the Row got shot – if USC would be responding differently today.
Thank you for saying so,we need to be treated equally and we also need truth.
Unfortunately this story will not receive the Trayvon/Zimmerman-media treatment unless the killer is white with a swastika tattooed on his face and sworn to hate Asians. Tragic killings happen everyday as this despicable double homicide shows – but the media does not stay interested unless they can relish over a juicy racism angle.
Why aren’t Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in LA organizing demonstrations and demanding justice for these victims?
Don’t be ridiculous. The situations are entirely different. Both are sad, but in Trayvon’s case, the killer was known and free/not charged with a crime. That’s not the case here because no one knows who did it. Who are we supposed to demand be arrested?
if the killer is caught, and his last name is a zimmerman, goldman, steinman or whatever -man, i can guarantee the so called free media will try to call him a hispanic just as long as there’s that 1/16th blood connection to Latino descendancy.. but then again, the shooter may in fact be an asian, or black, or a bonafide white/jew.
I’d like to know more about the students and their backgrounds.