By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:01 EST, 19 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:39 EST, 19 May 2012 . Two young men have were arrested Friday in the killings of two Chinese graduate students who were shot to death near the University of Southern California campus last month, police said. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested on suspicion of the murders after material evidence directly linked both suspects to the crime scene. Barnes was arrested at a home near campus Friday afternoon, and Bolden was arrested a few hours later in Palmdale, Beck said. Both were being held without bail. Tragic: Two suspects have been arrested in the shooting deaths of USC students Ming Qu, 23, left, and Ying Wu, 23, right, last April in a suspected car robbery . KTLA reported that a 19-year-old woman was also taken into custody during Barnes' arrest. Ming Qu, of Jilin, and Ying Wu, of Hunan, were shot April 11 while sitting in a BMW about a mile away from the USC campus. Both students were 23 years old. The motive was still under investigation, Beck said, but the 'evidence points to a street robbery.' Beck said investigators believed the killings of Wu and Qu were part of a larger string of crimes committed in Los Angeles. Evidence: Police believe they were murdered either in an attempted robbery or car-jacking that left material evidence behind connecting to the suspects . 'Forensic evidence recovered at the scene linked them to two other attempted homicides,' Beck said. Material evidence directly linked both suspects to Wu and Qu, he added. The deaths sent shockwaves through the school, which has the largest number of international students of any U.S. university. Roughly 19 percent of the school's 38,000 students are from overseas, including 2,500 from China. After the shooting, Wu was found in the BMW's passenger seat and Qu was on the steps of a nearby house where he collapsed while trying to summon help, police said. On Friday, USC's president C L Max Nikias released a statement, thanking the city's mayor and police force behind the arrests. 'The arrest of the suspects in the tragic deaths of our graduate students, Ying Wu and Ming Qu, begins the process of healing and of closing a painful chapter in the life of our community. We will always mourn the loss of Ying and Ming, but find comfort in the hope of achieving justice,' Mr Nikias wrote. Blown out: The windows of the BMW luxury car were blown away; Ying Wu was found slumped over in her seat, and Qu tried to get out for help . Rough around the edges: The neighbourhood, though gentrifying, is in a seedy area of Los Angeles . USC's campus is located in an urban center a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles. It is across the street from county museums and not far from the Staples Center arena and a gentrifying area of Victorian homes. Yet it is also known as an area that had faced high crime and gang activity. The victims' parents filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the university made false claims about safety in the 'frequently asked questions' section of its online application. The 15-page lawsuit accuses USC of hiding behind the word 'urban' and not saying the school is in a high-crime residential area. It also notes that Chinese students in particular would interpret 'urban' to mean USC is in a safe area. 'The `urban' representation misled Chinese students, including Ming Qu, into believing the area is safe since in China, the more urban the area, the safer the area,' the lawsuit states, claiming USC understood this is how Chinese students would interpret the description. USC lawyer Debra Wong Yang said the university was deeply saddened by the deaths but found the lawsuit to be baseless. Prestigious: As many as 35 per cent of USC's international student population is comprised of the Chinese . The school and city police announced new security measures after the slayings and promised more video cameras, escorts and patrols. The additional security will include sending over 30 more officers to the department division that handles the USC area, and the university will pay for four additional officers to patrol the student residential neighborhoods, Beck said. Following the students' death, Chinese media reported the two were murdered in their luxury BMW because they were 'showing off their wealth,' outraging the victims' friends. In a statement released on Thursday, classmates and friends of Wu and Qu said they are 'deeply grieved and angered at the distorted reports of our friends', reports the LA Times. As news of the shooting broke, media outlets first reported that Wu was found dead in a new BMW. Headlines in China have focused on the make of the car because luxury vehicles have become a political issue in the country. Mourning: More than 400 Chinese students participate in a memorial service on campus of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, for the murdered couple . Rebecca Peterson lights candles at an impromptu memorial on campus for the two international students . But in their statement, friends say Qu had recently purchased the BMW, which was in fact a used 2003 model with 80,000 miles on the clock. He had planned to use the car to commute to a job after graduating this spring. They said the car had no license plates because they had not yet arrived and not because the car was new, reports the Times. 'Ying and Ming lived a simple life during their nearly two-year study at USC. In order to keep their living expenses down, they both shared rooms with other classmates. 'Ying even chose to live on the west side of campus, where it is comparatively cheaper and less safe.' The friends ended the statement by imploring people to 'ignore the rumors and help tell the truth', reports the Times. Gloria Tigolo who lives on the street where the shooting occurred said she heard a single gunshot. She went downstairs but didn't go outside because it was raining. 'It was just one big shot,' she said. 'I am amazed that one gunshot could kill two people.' Investigators said earlier that several shots were fired at the couple. Ms Tigolo said the area is peaceful and this is the first shooting she can recall since she moved to the neighbourhood three years ago.
Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, arrested on suspicion of murders .
Material evidence left at scene links suspects to students' death .
Students Ming Qu and Ying Wu shot dead in their BMW last April .
Qu and Wu were graduate students from China studying engineering .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:01 EST, 19 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:39 EST, 19 May 2012 . Two young men have were arrested Friday in the killings of two Chinese graduate students who were shot to death near the University of Southern California campus last month, police said. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested on suspicion of the murders after material evidence directly linked both suspects to the crime scene. Barnes was arrested at a home near campus Friday afternoon, and Bolden was arrested a few hours later in Palmdale, Beck said. Both were being held without bail. Tragic: Two suspects have been arrested in the shooting deaths of USC students Ming Qu, 23, left, and Ying Wu, 23, right, last April in a suspected car robbery . KTLA reported that a 19-year-old woman was also taken into custody during Barnes' arrest. Ming Qu, of Jilin, and Ying Wu, of Hunan, were shot April 11 while sitting in a BMW about a mile away from the USC campus. Both students were 23 years old. The motive was still under investigation, Beck said, but the 'evidence points to a street robbery.' Beck said investigators believed the killings of Wu and Qu were part of a larger string of crimes committed in Los Angeles. Evidence: Police believe they were murdered either in an attempted robbery or car-jacking that left material evidence behind connecting to the suspects . 'Forensic evidence recovered at the scene linked them to two other attempted homicides,' Beck said. Material evidence directly linked both suspects to Wu and Qu, he added. The deaths sent shockwaves through the school, which has the largest number of international students of any U.S. university. Roughly 19 percent of the school's 38,000 students are from overseas, including 2,500 from China. After the shooting, Wu was found in the BMW's passenger seat and Qu was on the steps of a nearby house where he collapsed while trying to summon help, police said. On Friday, USC's president C L Max Nikias released a statement, thanking the city's mayor and police force behind the arrests. 'The arrest of the suspects in the tragic deaths of our graduate students, Ying Wu and Ming Qu, begins the process of healing and of closing a painful chapter in the life of our community. We will always mourn the loss of Ying and Ming, but find comfort in the hope of achieving justice,' Mr Nikias wrote. Blown out: The windows of the BMW luxury car were blown away; Ying Wu was found slumped over in her seat, and Qu tried to get out for help . Rough around the edges: The neighbourhood, though gentrifying, is in a seedy area of Los Angeles . USC's campus is located in an urban center a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles. It is across the street from county museums and not far from the Staples Center arena and a gentrifying area of Victorian homes. Yet it is also known as an area that had faced high crime and gang activity. The victims' parents filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the university made false claims about safety in the 'frequently asked questions' section of its online application. The 15-page lawsuit accuses USC of hiding behind the word 'urban' and not saying the school is in a high-crime residential area. It also notes that Chinese students in particular would interpret 'urban' to mean USC is in a safe area. 'The `urban' representation misled Chinese students, including Ming Qu, into believing the area is safe since in China, the more urban the area, the safer the area,' the lawsuit states, claiming USC understood this is how Chinese students would interpret the description. USC lawyer Debra Wong Yang said the university was deeply saddened by the deaths but found the lawsuit to be baseless. Prestigious: As many as 35 per cent of USC's international student population is comprised of the Chinese . The school and city police announced new security measures after the slayings and promised more video cameras, escorts and patrols. The additional security will include sending over 30 more officers to the department division that handles the USC area, and the university will pay for four additional officers to patrol the student residential neighborhoods, Beck said. Following the students' death, Chinese media reported the two were murdered in their luxury BMW because they were 'showing off their wealth,' outraging the victims' friends. In a statement released on Thursday, classmates and friends of Wu and Qu said they are 'deeply grieved and angered at the distorted reports of our friends', reports the LA Times. As news of the shooting broke, media outlets first reported that Wu was found dead in a new BMW. Headlines in China have focused on the make of the car because luxury vehicles have become a political issue in the country. Mourning: More than 400 Chinese students participate in a memorial service on campus of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, for the murdered couple . Rebecca Peterson lights candles at an impromptu memorial on campus for the two international students . But in their statement, friends say Qu had recently purchased the BMW, which was in fact a used 2003 model with 80,000 miles on the clock. He had planned to use the car to commute to a job after graduating this spring. They said the car had no license plates because they had not yet arrived and not because the car was new, reports the Times. 'Ying and Ming lived a simple life during their nearly two-year study at USC. In order to keep their living expenses down, they both shared rooms with other classmates. 'Ying even chose to live on the west side of campus, where it is comparatively cheaper and less safe.' The friends ended the statement by imploring people to 'ignore the rumors and help tell the truth', reports the Times. Gloria Tigolo who lives on the street where the shooting occurred said she heard a single gunshot. She went downstairs but didn't go outside because it was raining. 'It was just one big shot,' she said. 'I am amazed that one gunshot could kill two people.' Investigators said earlier that several shots were fired at the couple. Ms Tigolo said the area is peaceful and this is the first shooting she can recall since she moved to the neighbourhood three years ago.
Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested on suspicion of the murders after deaths of USC students Ming Qu, 23, left, and Ying Wu, 23, right, last April in a suspected car evidence directly linked both suspects to Wu and tragic deaths of our graduate students, Ying Wu found dead in a new BMW. Headlines in China have