UPDATED: Parents of Slain USC Students Want Refunded Tuition Donated to Scholarship Fund
The parents of slain USC grad students from China tearfully outlined "three wishes" for USC related to the scholarship fund established by the university in the wake of their 2012 killing.
First, the parents of Ying Wu and Ming Qu want a tuition refund, which the university previously promised, and for the refunded tuition to go into a scholarship fund. Second, the parents want the reward money related to the murder investigation also deposited into the scholarship fund. And third, the parents want the scholarship fund to support the undergraduate colleges which Wu and Qu attended in China.
The parents' demands, delivered in a press conference held at the Chinese Press Club in Los Angeles, come one day after Bryan Barnes pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder related to the April 11, 2012 killings.
The fatal shooting of Wu and Qu - both second-year electrical engineering graduate students - rocked the Trojan campus, especially the sizable community of international students.
The parents of Wu and Qu previously filed a lawsuit against USC, accusing the university of misrepresenting security at the university, which is located in South L.A. The lawsuit has since been dropped.
Barnes was sentenced to two life terms in prison, plus an additional 50 years.
A second man, Javier Bolden, has also been charged in connection with the deaths. He's due back in court in March, and prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.
Updated Thursday, February 6, 2014 | 5:02 p.m. PST: USC officials met with the parents of Ying Wu and Ming Qu on campus Thursday and presented them with posthumous degrees for their children.
