Slain USC student left trail of blood that police followed

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Supporters of slain USC student Xinran Ji, in photo, gather for a press conference after the arraignment of Jonathan Del Carmen, Andrew Garcia, Alberto Ochoa and Alejandra Guerrero in downtown Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Supporters of slain USC student Xinran Ji, in photos, gather for a press conference after the arraignment of Jonathan Del Carmen, Andrew Garcia, Alberto Ochoa and Alejandra Guerrero in downtown Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

3/17

Family attorney Rose Tsai, right, and many other supporters showed up to show their support for victim Xinran Ji outside court. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

4/17

Students bring white flowers to the memorial service to honor Xinran Ji. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Xinran Ji in a photo displayed at the memorial service for the slain USC graduate student. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Jinhui Du, center, mother of USC Chinese graduate student Xinran Ji, 24, is escorted by family members into Universal Chung Wah Funeral Home in Alhambra. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

7/17

Songbo Ji, left, and Jinhui Du, fourth from left, parents of USC graduate student Xinran Ji, 24, break down during a press conference outside of the Universal Chung Wah Funeral Home in Alhambra. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Relatives of Andrew Garcia talk with the media after he, Jonathan Del Carmen, Alberto Ochoa and Alejandra Guerrero appeared in court, accused of killing USC grad student Xinran Ji. Left to right are Garcia’s father Cresencio Garcia Jr., sister Rosemary Garcia, mother Rosalie Garcia and brother Chris Garcia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith announces the arrests in connection with the killing of USC student Xinran Ji at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Comstat room. (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

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USC students walk by blood on the sidewalk on Orchard Avenue between 29th and 30th streets near USC after an attack that killed a graduate student. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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A USC Public Safety vehicle sits in front of the apartment building where USC engineering graduate student Xinran Ji was found dead. He was the victim of a brutal assault, police said. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD detectives do a follow-up investigation in front of the apartment building where University of Southern California engineering graduate student Xinran Ji was found dead. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman says the fatal attack on a USC graduate student may have been a crime of opportunity, but it’s unclear whether the victim was robbed. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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The scene outside an apartment near USC where a graduate student was found dead inside. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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A USC student was found dead in an apartment near campus. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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LAPD officers investigate around the apartment building where a USC Chinese graduate student was found dead. He was the victim of an assault a few blocks from campus, the university said Thursday. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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A USC graduate student from China was found dead at an apartment in the University Park area north of campus. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

By Kate Mather, Caitlin Owens

July 25, 2014 12:32 PM PT

Detectives determined that a USC graduate student found dead in his apartment Thursday morning had been attacked earlier just blocks away in part because of a “significant amount of blood” leading to the apartment from the crime scene, an LAPD official familiar with the investigation said.

“The official said criminologists traced the blood from Xinran Ji’s 30^th Street apartment to the intersection of 29^th Street and Orchard Avenue, where the assault occurred.

Ji, 24, had just walked a friend home when he was hit by some kind of blunt object by at least three suspects around 12:45 a.m.

He then walked back to his apartment, located a few blocks from campus, where he succumbed to his injury and was found dead a few hours later, police said.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Andy Neiman said that the attack may have been a crime of opportunity. It’s unclear whether Ji was robbed.

An acquaintance discovered Ji’s body about 7 a.m. and called 911. A cause of death has not been determined, but university officials said he appeared to have suffered a head injury.

No arrests have been made, LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Friday morning.

Smith said detectives with the department’s Criminal Gang Homicide division were working “around the clock,” and “pulling out all the stops to get this thing wrapped up.” He said the LAPD was in close contact with university officials regarding the investigation.

“It’s a very high priority for us to make sure that we take these guys into custody,” he said.

Clayton Dube, the director of the USC U.S.-China Institute, said Ji was “focused on making a better future for all of us.”

“He wasn’t simply somebody who wanted to take, he wanted to create. He was an engineer who wanted to solve problems, to make things better, to improve people’s lives through his work,” Dube said.

Dube, who didn’t know Ji personally but spoke to his mother on the phone Thursday, said Ji graduated from a prestigious Chinese university. During his time at Zhejiang, he visited California as part of a summer program.

While there, he was inspired by the advanced machinery he saw.

“I think he wanted to be part of this revolution in the design and creation of machines that could make things faster, make them better, do all those sorts of things,” Dube said.

The university is making arrangements for Ji’s parents to travel to Los Angeles.

The incident brings up bad memories of a string of shootings that happened a few years ago, after which the university poured considerable resources into improving campus safety.

In April 2012, two 23-year-old Chinese graduate students in the electrical engineering program, Ying Wu and Ming Qu, were shot to death around 1 a.m. while sitting in a parked BMW just west of campus.

Six months after Wu and Qu were slain, a gunman opened fire in a crowd outside a Halloween party near the center of USC. Four people were wounded, and the campus was placed on lockdown.

Dube said Ji’s death has had a “profound impact” on students, but he does not believe the victims were targeted in this or the previous incidents.

“They were not targeted because they were students. They were not targeted because they were Chinese,” he said. “They were targeted because they happened to have something or maybe had something that these criminals wanted and were willing to create great bodily harm to take.”

For breaking news in Los Angeles and the Southland, follow @Caitlin__Owens, or email her at caitlin.owens@latimes.com.