Trial continues in 2012 murder of graduate students

The prosecution’s case against Javier Bolden, charged with two counts of murder in the 2012 killings of graduate students Ming Qu and Ying Wu, resumed at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles Monday morning.

According to testimony given during the trial, early in the morning of April 11, 2012, Ming Qu and Ying Wu were heading back home from an evening with friends. At about 1 a.m. they were both shot and killed while double-parked in a 2003 BMW to the northwest of campus in an apparent robbery attempt.

Last week, prosecutors showed a video of Bolden bragging to a fellow inmate in prison about the killings.

During Monday’s proceedings, Deputy District Attorney Daniel Akemon called several witnesses to the stand to testify about what they observed. Two were male residents of the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue.

Giovanny Ordoñez, one of the witnesses for the prosecution, said he heard what sounded like a loud firecracker explosion followed by shattering glass outside of his residence. He then described walking toward the front of his home and peeking through the blinds to see outside.

Ordoñez said he watched from his window as the male victim, Qu, crawled out from his vehicle and onto Ordoñez’s neighbor’s porch. Ordoñez said he left his residence to help Qu, who Ordoñez said was out of breath and choking on his own blood. Ordoñez then called emergency services.

Euri Maldonado, another witness, testified that he was driving southbound on Raymond Avenue from 27th Street while the BMW was double parked on the west side of the street.

Maldonado said that moments after parking his car and entering his residence, he heard two consecutive gunshots and the sound of glass shattering. He then looked outside his second floor balcony and testified seeing two people surrounding the victims’ BMW who then ran southbound.

Maldonado said that he was unable to see the faces of the running people, but called 911 and went to help the victims. He told the court that he saw the male victim crawl up to the porch of a neighbor’s house and attempt to knock for help.

Both witnesses testified that they approached the BMW to provide Wu with help. They described Wu as crouched on the front passenger seat with her hands covering her face and said she was unresponsive.

LAPD Officer Ricardo Hernandez, who at the time of the incident was assigned to the Southwest Division, testified about his response to the 911 call. Officer Hernandez said he arrived at the scene a few minutes after the emergency call requests. He explained how imperative it was to get Wu and Qu to the hospital and escorted the ambulances to the California Hospital Medical Center. At the hospital, Hernandez said Wu was declared dead and Qu was taken in for surgery and then declared dead.

After reaching a deal with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Bryan Barnes, the other suspect in the case, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was consequently sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.

Bolden and Barnes were charged with the murders in May 2012. The families of the slain students filed a wrongful death lawsuit against USC seeking damages, but the case was dismissed in February 2013 on insufficient legal grounds.

Since the 2012 killings, USC has increased its security measures, adding 60 security cameras and additional neighborhood security ambassadors in the surrounding area. After the 2012 Halloween shooting, other new policies included restricting campus access from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and adding security checkpoints for access into campus.

Additional security measures were implemented this fall after the murder of Xinran Ji, a graduate student who was killed this summer on July 24 on his walk home from campus. The university increased its nighttime patrols, enhanced its video monitoring program and has said it would maintain the number of security ambassadors so their numbers will remain constant year round. Previously, they decreased during the summer time.