[2] On April 11, 2012, at 1:00 a.m., students Ming Qu and Ying Wu were shot to death after sitting in their parked 2003 BMW on the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue, located one mile northwest from the University of Southern California campus.

[4][5] Bolden and Barnes were also charged with attempted murder in an unrelated shooting in December 2011 at a party in South Los Angeles, which left a woman seriously wounded and a man paralyzed.

Los Angeles Chinese Consul General Qiu Shaofang made the following statement: "The ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of education and the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles acted immediately after the tragedy happened and have committed [to] join efforts in tackling problems arising from the incident.

"[1][10] The area surrounding University of Southern California's campus is an urban, low income community that has a historically high hate crime rate.

Johnson found no connection between the killings and the university's self-reported efforts to protect students, stating that "causation is an insurmountable issue for the plaintiffs.