Parents Of Slain USC Student Urge Security Boost

AP George He, left, and Sean Kong, right, both friends of the father of slain Chinese student Xinran Ji, read a statement from the family on behalf of his parents, as they are still in China unable to get a U.S. travel visa, at Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. Four teens are charged with murder in the fatal beating of a University of Southern California graduate student with a baseball bat and wrench as he walked to his off-campus apartment after meeting with a study group.

LOS ANGELES (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — The parents of a University of Southern California graduate student who was beaten to death on his walk home say they are concerned about other students and hope the university increases security.

The victim, 24-year-old Xinran (SHING'-rahn) Ji, an engineering student from China, was attacked Thursday as he headed to his off-campus apartment after a study group. His parents, Ji Songbo and Du Jinhui, issued a statement Tuesday, the same day four teens were charged with murder.

The parents say they are struggling to get visas to come to the U.S. They say they are especially concerned about USC's Chinese students and urge the school to guarantee the safety of all those enrolled there.

They mentioned a 2012 incident in which two USC students from China were fatally shot during an off-campus robbery.