US man sentenced to life for killing Chinese student

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A 21-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole for beating to death a Chinese student who was walking to his off-campus apartment.

Andrew Garcia and his three co-defendants attacked Ji Xinran, a 24-year-old electrical engineering student at the University of Southern California, as he walked home after a late-night study session on July 24, 2014, using a baseball bat and a wrench.

Ji managed to get to his apartment, where a roommate found him dead hours later.

Garcia is the second person convicted in the July 2014 killing of Ji. His three co-defendants – Alejandra Guerrero, 19, was convicted of the murder last year and is awaiting sentencing to life; Jonathan Del Carmen, 22, and Albert Ochoa, 20, await trial.

Ji Xinran's family, including father Ji Songbo (R) and mother Dui Jinhui (2nd R), attend the USC service in memory. /USC Photo

Prosecutors said his attackers targeted him because he was Chinese and they thought he had cash on him.

Ji’s family wept during the sentencing. His father, Ji Songbo, sobbed as he told the court in Mandarin that his son was killed viciously.

"People like our age are now prepping their daughter’s and son’s wedding, and their life is full of joy. But every day instead for us we are paying tribute to our son, crying,” the father said through an interpreter.

After the attack on Ji, prosecutors said, Garcia and the others drove to Dockweiler State Beach and robbed a man and a woman.

Ji's killing took place two years after two other USC students from China were shot to death during a robbery as they sat in a car.

Nearly 5,000 of USC's international student population of 10,500 are from China, according to the school's website.

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Source(s): AP ,AFP