Crowd wants justice for slain USC students as suspects' arraignment postponed again

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- An arraignment hearing for the two men accused of killing two USC graduate students from China was postponed for the second time.

Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, were charged with special circumstance murder and other counts in the murders of Ming Qu and Ying Wu. They are being held without bail.

A new hearing date was scheduled for July 18.

Qu and Wu were one month shy of getting their graduate degrees in engineering. On April 11, Wu and Qu were gunned down while sitting in a car on the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue near campus in a botched robbery attempt.

Outside the downtown L.A. courthouse Monday, Chinese students unveiled a banner calling for justice in the case. They are gathering signatures to turn over to the district attorney.

"Two Chinese students are killed in America," said Howard Wang, president of the Southwest Chinese Students and Scholars Association. "We want justice. We want to know the truth."

"I talked to parents just a couple of days ago. They are still crying, weeping," said Zhunmin Chen, head of the education office for the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.

The D.A.'s office says Barnes and Bolden carried out a crime spree. They are accused in multiple shootings, culminating in the murder of the two young USC students.

The judge pushed back the proceeding to give defense attorneys time to obtain what was described as "voluminous" evidence from the prosecutors.

There were more charges for Javier Bolden, including one count of attempted murder at a party that happened months before the students were shot. Investigators say the same weapon was used in the shooting of Timothy Hall, who was seriously hurt at that party.

And at a February party the Barnes and Bolden allegedly fired several rounds. Deionce Davance was left brain-injured in a coma. Also struck was Zanae Flores. In total, there are nine felonies including the murder of the two USC students.

The special circumstances of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery makes the suspects eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors will decide at a later date whether to seek the death penalty in this case.

USC is asking a judge to toss out a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of the murdered students. University lawyers say the school is not responsible for the deaths.

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shooting, robbery, arrest, los angeles news, miriam hernandez

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