2 Charged With Capital Murder in USC Killings

A judge postponed the arraignment until June 25

The suspects in the shooting deaths of two USC graduate students have been charged with capital murder, and also face attempted murder charges in unrelated earlier shooting incidents.

The two suspects, both arrested Friday, were expected to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in the Los Angeles Superior Court's downtown Foltz Criminal Justice Center, but the judge postponed the arraignment until June 25.

They could face the death penalty, though prosecutors have not yet decided whether to pursue that course.

Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, both from Los Angles, are suspected of committing the April 11 killlings of Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23-year-old electrical engineering students from China.

The students were shot while seated in a double-parked BMW in a residential area west of the University of Southern California campus. The District Attorney's Office called it a "botched robbery" in a press release announcing the charges.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said as a press conference Friday that the killings occurred during a "street robbery," and that evidence had tied the suspects to two earlier attempted murders in Los Angeles.

The District Attorney's Office said Tuesday that police had found shell casings that tied the suspects to the USC shootings and other crimes.

The office announced details in the prosecutions of the earlier alleged crimes as well, saying Barnes and Bolden have each been charged with attempted murder in a shooting at a Dec. 3, 2011, party in South LA.

Barnes is also charged with one count of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm in relation to a Feb. 12 party in South LA where he allegedly fired numerous rounds. He allegedly injured two partygoers in their 20s, one female and one male who was severely injured.

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Beck said Friday that the two suspects are not documented gang members but are thought by police to have gang ties. Barnes was arrested in South Los Angeles and Bolden was arrested in Palmdale.

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