4 Teens Face Death, Life In Prison For Beating 24-Year-Old Student To Death

Four teenage students have been charged with murder for beating a University of Southern California (USC) graduate student to death.

The accused are 17-year-old Alberto Ochoa, 16-year-old Alejandra Guerrero, 18-year-old Andrew Garcia and 19-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen.

The victim, 24-year-old victim Xinran Ji, an engineering student from China, was attacked with a baseball bat and spanner on his way back to his off-campus.

Reports say Ji tried to escape from his attackers who chased him down and beat him again.

Ji managed to make his way back to the hostel after the attack but his corpse was later discovered hours later.

Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against DelCarmen and Garcia while Ochoa and Guerrero, who cannot face the death penalty because of their age, could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted.

An Only Child

Sadly, Ji is his parent's only child.

It was reported that his parents, Ji Songbo and Du Jinhui, said they were "deeply concerned" about Chinese students at USC, citing the 2012 fatal shooting of two Chinese students.

"We do not want to see another incident like this.

"No parents should have to bear this pain," they reportedly said.

Student Pulse gathered that Ji was an excellent student who won a scholarship for excellence in research and innovation at one of China's best universities.

He enrolled at USC in 2013.

A well attended memorial was held for Ji at the university on Friday.