Memorial service held for 2 USC students killed near campus

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- University of Southern California students gathered Wednesday to grieve and remember slain grad students Ming Qu and Ying Wu, two friends who were just a month away from graduating from USC's Viterbi Engineering School.

It was especially painful for Julia L., a cousin of Ming Qu who had helped him enroll there.

"It was the first time I cried in the past week," she said.

USC president C.L. Max Nikias was at the memorial to honor the two students.

"How can we accord them the respect and reflection they deserve, when we are beset with unresolved grief, when we are consumed by unresolved anger and unresolved questions," he said.

USC announced it will name a scholarship in honor of Wu and Qu.

A reward of $125,000 was later increased to $200,000 in hopes of finding the unknown gunman who killed Qu and Wu April 11 while they were parked nine blocks from campus.

A second incident of violence came just after midnight Wednesday. Four students were robbed at gunpoint. After a chase, Jeremy Hendrick of Compton was shot and wounded by a campus police officer. Investigators seized Hendrick's gun. Ballistics from both incidents will be compared.

"They will look at every piece of information that is gathered from this incident to see if there is a possible connection," said LAPD Lt. Andy Nieman.

At the memorial, Wu's best friend said Ying had planned for a proud return to China on May 14. She already had her ticket.

Qu's best friend says Ming's parents had cried last year when visiting the room he and Ying shared because they couldn't afford a nicer apartment for him, one that might be safer.

The LAPD is still looking for the public's help in finding their killer.

Anyone with information about the shooting was urged to call the Los Angeles Police Department at (877) LAPD-24-7.

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