The USC grad student was on his way home from a study group session when he was assaulted and struck with a bat, police authorities said. The assailants, four teenagers, were subsequently charged Tuesday for murder after allegedly being involved in fatal beating of the 24-year old grad student.
Authorities said the victim may have tried to escape his assailants only to be assaulted yet again.
The assailants pleaded not guilty after being charged with capital murder last Tuesday.
The suspects, Alejanda Guerrero, 16, Alberto Ochoa, 17, Andrew Garcia, 18, and Jonathan DelCarmen, 19, are charged with one count of murder.
Prosecutors, as authorities reported, are also looking into seeking death penalty against two of the suspects, DelCarmen and Garcia as the charge carries a special circumstance allegation that an attempted robbery was made during the assault.
The victim, Xinran Ji, is an engineering student from China. On his way home, Ji was approached and severely assaulted in the area of 29th Street and Orchard Avenue, blocks from the University of Southern California campus.
Early reports indicated that the victim "was set upon by a group of individuals. These individuals beat him severely," said Andrew Smith of the LAPD. The victim was hit with a blunt-force object, police authorities added.
Ji later died in his apartment July 24.
After the assault, prosecutors alleged that the suspects drove to Dockweiler State Beach. There, three of the suspects allegedly robbed another individual who was able to escaped and notified police authorities.
Ji's assault is the second time since two USC graduate students, both of whom were also from China, were shot dead during a robbery near campus two years ago.
In a statement, Ji's parent lauded the police for the arrests. They also expressed deep "[concern] about other students at the university."
"We do not want to see another incident like this," Ji's parents, Songbo Ji and Jinhui Du, said in a statement.
